For My Mother...

I am not sure if there is a "Mother's Day" here in Argentina, but I just realized that the American holiday is on Sunday.  Seeing that my mother is ill at the moment (and her only son just jumped a continent), I figured I would do something nice for her.  

As a life-long Arkansan, there are several things we are proud of: the Razorbacks, friendly people, southern charm, and to some degree, Wal-Mart. This inauspicious little "Five-and-Dime" out of Bentonville, AR, eventually grew into the world's largest retailer - and at times the world's largest company.  Not only are we proud that the "little-engine-that-could" store came out of our state, most of us really enjoy shopping there!  You can buy literally everything there - cheap.  Since my mother shops at Wal-Mart much more than anyone should, she has an affinity for the place.  So, two days before Mother's Day, I decided to make a run to the local Wal-Mart.  

When I arrived, I was absolutely shocked at how similar it looked to those we have in the States.  What I learned in college business classes was the following:  International Business Rule #1 - DO NOT carbon-copy your store and install it in a foreign country; they do not conduct business like you.  However, as you can see from the picture below, this Wal-Mart had the biggest parking lot I've seen in Buenos Aires (outside the airport).  There were even the guys round up buggies from the parking lot.  And they had the automated cart-collector, too! 

When I walked inside, (other than 1/8th of the store being a liquor store) it was also the same. The layout was a little different, but I looked on the shelves and saw "Great Value" brands and familiar clothing labels.  Not that I really plan on shopping there, but I even saw a rather nice leather jacket for $100 (Argentine pesos), which, as of today's 3.7:1 exchange rate, was about $US 27.  

Anyway, that was my adventure for today.  Mom, Happy Mother's Day - I hoped you liked my tour.  I think I'm going to try China town tomorrow for lunch.  Every China town I've ever visited in any city always has the best food for the cheapest prices!  I'm definitely hoping for more of the same.

ino Centenario 1876 y calle 15 (2025)

This thing is harder than I thought...

Me-thinks its the jet-lag, extra travel day in Toronto... and the constant mind-exercise of listening in another language... and general tired-ness from planning such an extravagant move - but I'm pooped!  In addition, I consciously decided to drink the local water (which eventually caused the expected effect).   I tell you these things to say this: maintaining a blog is rather difficult!

Due to some requests from people back home, I made a conscious effort yesterday to take pictures while I was exploring the city.  However, it is actually hard for me to take pictures in public here.  I don't know why, but I feel uncomfortable whipping out my camera and popping off some pics.  Maybe its because I want to be a local, and locals don't take tourist pictures.  Maybe its because I still can't hear everything that is being said around me (yes, they do talk that fast) and I don't want to have my camera snatched (even though I have seen no indication that would actually happen, I'm being cautious).  

I finally did remember to take a couple of pictures outside of my balcony yesterday (above), so I hope a few people are excited.  I took some other pictures downtown yesterday, but it takes longer than expected to upload pictures on here, and there's some finesse involved in navigating this site on my side of the equation, so I'm going to figure it all out and give ya'll a good update here pretty soon.

Three Days...

The time is drawing near.  Slowly but surely, the "To Do" list is shrinking, until "Board Plane" will be the only one left.  The biggest hurdle, moving out of my apartment, was crossed yesterday, thanks to my mom and her friend.  It was a lot to do, but now it is done.  I am now left for two days in my old apartment with nothing but a couple of lamps, a tv, my computer and clothes.  This almost seems to be a good test in modern minimalist survival, since I will only bring my clothes and computer with me to BsAs.  

I applied for another job today.  This one is with an American travel company with an office in BsAs.  They specialize in Latin American packages: Peru, Chile, Bolivia, all of Argentina, Antarctica (of which a portion is claimed by Argentina - yes, they are that far south in some regions of the country).  I hope my email convinced them to at least give me a sit-down interview, since most of the travel industry relies on personal communication in some form or another.  And if any of you out there know either me or my mother, you know that I can talk to anyone, anywhere, about anything - and feel relatively comfortable about all of it.  Add to that mix my father's vast professional sales experience, which also requires face-to-face charisma, professionalism and expertise, I feel I have a grab-bag of genetic potential in that industry.

I also decided on a new personal goal of mine today.  I really adopted the goal of one of my best friends, but he won't mind.  He knows who he is if he's reading this.  The goal is to visit every continent on the globe.  My friend's personal goal it to reach that point by the time he's 30, but I'm going to be flexible on that particular point.  Thirty years old isn't as far away as it used to be, and living your life can get in the way of lofty cultural goals, so 30 isn't a necessity for me.  I am currently standing at 2/7 continents, and since I visited Brazil last (northern hemisphere) summer, I won't be adding any that list this week.  However, I will be adding Canada to my country list.  My flight from America to Argentina goes through Toronto, though I won't have time to buy maple syrup or catch a hockey game - its just an hour layover.  I've heard Toronto is a beautiful city, I just hope it is beautiful from the air at midnight.

Looks like I'm clearing out of the States in time to miss most of the Swine Flu panic.  I have mixed feelings about the name of this flu as a Razorback fan.  However, I heard an interesting statistic this morning on the news: 36,000 people die every year of regular flu.  I'm not sure if that includes figures from around the world or just the US, but only 800 died worldwide from SARS (remember that?) in 2003 and only a few dozen have died from this Swine Flu in Mexico.  

I'm still more excited than nervous about the trip.  Sometimes I realize what I'm doing and it almost becomes new again, with a crescendo of exhilaration.   

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.