Tag Archive for 'Expat'

5 Gadget Greats

Published on December 15, 2008 in Expat Advice, Travel and Travel Advice. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

There are certain toys that I simply can’t do without when gallivanting about the world.  They keep me sane and help me pass the time when I’m not out and about exploring.  They’re become especially important to me now that I’ve been living abroad as an expat.

1. Laptop

Easily takes the top spot.  I use it for countless tasks.  All of my work I do here is done on my laptop.  I work from it, set my schedule on it, research and plan trips on it, you name it I probably do it on my laptop.  It’s my number one piece of hardware.  And with technology allowing for smaller and smaller laptops that have become ultra-portable, I see no reason why they shouldn’t accompany anyone on a long-term trip.  Plus with the increasingly common availability of wifi, you can easily stay connected if need be.

2. iPod

I’m a music freak.  I can’t help it.  I love finding out what the popular groups are in a place I’m staying and throwing them on my iPod.  I also use it for Spanish language podcasts to practice advanced vocabulary and grammar tenses.  Makes for a more productive trip on mass transportation.  Buenos Aires also offers podcast walking tours for free on their tourism website; a great alternative to paying for the guided ones!

3. Digital Camera

My digital camera allows me to shoot photos of dang near everything.  I take it with me everywhere.  I’ve been in Buenos Aires 4 months and I already have well over 1,000 pictures from the city.  Don’t worry, I’m going through them now to add to the photo page on here!  I have two 4gb SD cards that I keep with my camera, so I have more than enough space to shoot any trip I’m on.  Combine my camera with my laptop and iPod, and have all my photos stored and sorted.

4. Cell Phone

Before I left the states I made an investment in an unlocked quad-band 3G phone.  I use the Nokia E51, and it has served me very well thus far.  Quad-band means my phone can be used anywhere in the world, so long as I get a local plan and pop in a new SIM card.  3G means it can use the highest speed networks that the best carriers operate on.  And since my phone is unlocked it can be used with any carrier, even when / if I return to the US.  Pretty snazzy little sucker.

5. Universal Adapter

I bought a set from Brookstone that covers all my bases for power around the world.  They have various plugs and adapters that’ll cover any outlet I come across.  And it all stores in a snug little case that stores easily (with a map of what to use where on the inner lid!).  Definitely worth grabbing if you’ll be hitting multiple countries.

Wrap Up

If you can’t tell, I’m quite the nerd.  I love my toys, and very rarely am I completely disconnected.  I already know that I’ll be working on joining the ranks of flashpackers soon enough.  Backpacking with cool points.  What about you guys?  Any other gadget suggestions that you just can’t live without on the wide open road?

10 Things Expats In BA Should Take Advantage Of

Published on December 8, 2008 in Buenos Aires, Expat Advice and Travel Advice. 28 Comments Tags: , , .

I wrote this up over the weekend for MiniHostels, but I think it’s great stuff to have for anyone looking to live as an expat in Buenos Aires.  Some of these are specific to here, but anyone looking to travel long term can take advantage of resources like Wikitravel or Craigslist.  Without further ado, my top 10 expat / Buenos Aires resources:

1. BA Expats

BA Expats is a great resource. It’s a forum run by expats, for expats. You can get all of your questions answered here by people who have been living in Buenos Aires for years. BA Expats was the first site I found when I started doing research on living down here, and I still use it daily to organize meet ups and ask questions that pop up from time to time. There are lots of great people that will be more than happy to help you with your transition.

2. Expat Connection

Expat Connection is similar to BA Expats, but organizes more events and meet ups. They have a calendar where they post things ranging from group trips to medical insurance information sessions. Their forum is not nearly as active as BA Expats. Combine Expat Connection with BA Expats and you’ll be very plugged into what’s happening here in Buenos Aires for foreigners.

3. Craigslist

Craigslist is the best of the best for finding apartments and work in Buenos Aires. Craigslist is constantly updated with room shares and a huge range of apartments fitting any price range, sure to fit the needs of anyone that needs a place to stay. They also usually beat the prices of securing a room from abroad by a fair margin. It’s also the best resource for finding a job in the city. The job board is updated with many jobs daily, and if you pay attention over the course of a week or two you’re sure to find something that suits you. You can also use it to find odds and ends like a bike or cheap electronics. Can you tell I’m a fan?

4. The Guia T

The Guia T is the single most useful tool for getting around the city of Buenos Aires. It can be bought at any newsstand in the Microcentro, for just 5 or 6 pesos. More than worth the price tag. It’s features include an index of every street in greater Buenos Aires corresponding to a numbered grid mapping system, a map of the subway system, and every single bus line that runs within the city. Using the grids, you can look up which buses stop in that area, and by looking up the specific bus line in the index, you can also tell where they go on their route. Once you learn to navigate the Guia T effectively, getting around the city becomes a breeze.

5. The Argentimes

The Argentimes is a bi-weekly newspaper dedicated to the younger crowd of English-speakers in Buenos Aires. It covers topics including culture, economics, politics, the environment, and the social life of Argentines. Written by young people for young people, it’s a great way to plug into Argentine youth culture. And the best part? It’s free! Check their website for their distribution points or just download the .pdf file of each edition.

6. Buenos Aires Herald

The Buenos Aires Herald can fulfill your normal newspaper needs. It covers all sections that you’d expect to find in any major city publication, covering Argentine issues and newsworthy events with quality English writing. Make sure you take advantage of the Sunday edition, which contains articles from the New York Times and an excellent job classifieds section specifically targeted to English speakers. Use it in conjunction with Craigslist to optimize your job search! You can find the Herald at most newsstands in the Microcentro, but try to buy your paper early because they often don’t keep more than 4 or 5 copies stocked.

7. What’s Up Buenos Aires

What’s Up Buenos Aires (WUBA) is a one-stop spot for all sorts of nightlife and cultural events taking place in the city.  They cover music, art, theater, restaurants, and bars, plus they offer tours and excursions with their own staff leading.  Their articles range from gallery openings, artist interviews, and concert coverage to restaurant ratings, photography, and cultural articles.  Run by Americans, the site is a gold mine for those wanting to experience the amazing nightlife Buenos Aires offers.

8. SaltShaker

SaltShaker is a food and restaurant blog run an expat American chef and sommelier. The guy has reviewed an impressive number of restaurants around town, complete with photos of his favorite dishes. He’s also been so kind as to organize them into genre, so to speak (Italian, Asian Fusion, Argentine, etc.). He also does top ten lists for various types of food. If you’re looking for an English language guide to the amazing cuisine Buenos Aires has to offer, you can’t go wrong with SaltShaker.

9. Guia Oleo

Guia Oleo is similar to SaltShaker, but is more comprehensive and organized. A button at the bottom of the page allows you to switch to English. If you’ve ever used Yelp back in the US, Guia Oleo has a very similar feature set (just limited to restaurants). The site allows you to rate your dining experience at restaurants, so you can see reviews from tourists and porteños alike at any restaurant you can think of. They keep a top ten list organized by these ratings, so you can also find the top ten restaurants in the city as chosen by the people.

10. Wikitravel

Anyone that has come to Buenos Aires as an expat probably loves to travel, and will want to see as much of Argentina and South America as possible. I’m a research nerd; I love to study things to death before actually traveling there. Being that I’m obsessed with travel, I tend to map out lots of itineraries based out of Buenos Aires. I use Wikitravel for most of my travel research needs. Anytime I’m taking a trip, it’s the first place I look for information. Wikitravel is a user-generated resource in the vein of Wikipedia, so it’s constantly updated with the newest information available.

Conclusion

If you take advantage of all the sites I listed above, I guarantee that your transition to the life of a porteño will be much easier. Also, if you liked that list, I wrote about some of my favorite general travel resources in this post.  ¡Suerte!

Freelancing, Blogging, and Entrepreneurship

Published on November 2, 2008 in Buenos Aires and Expat Advice. 5 Comments Tags: , , , .

After teaching TEFL English for the last month and a half or so, I’ve come to one conclusion about living down here: if you want to do well for yourself, you need to either start your own business or secure a stable secondary income.  Expats don’t have many job options to begin with, and those that are offered pay meager salaries.  With that in mind, I’ve got a couple of ideas that have been bouncing around inside my head.

Freelancing

I’m working on this right now.  As soon as some of my content is published on MiniHostels, I’m going to start shopping my services around.  There are plenty of magazines and websites that I have in mind.  The key here is to have some kind of written content to show them, and my articles that I’m writing right now can provide that.  My immediate supervisor at work has a lot of experience with freelancing, and she’s going to help me in starting out.  I’ll be sure to keep you guys updated.

Blogging

This blog originally began as a personal site I wrote for fun, but as more and more people have commented or emailed me saying they enjoy my writing, I’ve decided to really build the blog as a personal brand.  There are lots of expat sites for people coming to Buenos Aires, but not many that speak to those coming fresh out of college.  I think I can address that niche.  I’ve already started putting together an informative e-book that I’ll be selling on here.  It’ll be directed towards young expats and offer insight and how-to methodology for a lot of the problems they’ll need to solve before and after arriving.  So stay tuned on the blog front, there’ll be more informative posts, but I’m not going to lose my quirky writing style any time soon.

Entrepreneurship

Over the last few weeks I’ve met a couple of young business owners down here, and it’s definitely the way to go if you’re the enterprising type.  I’ve had a couple of ideas, but I think the one that would offer the best fit for my lifestyle and talents would be owning a youth hostel. I’m going to be interviewing local hostel owners for work anyways, so I’ll be sure to pick their brains once that gets going.  I’ve checked out a lot of how-to sites and forums that offer advice on how to start and run a hostel, and I’m going to keep fleshing out a business plan over the next couple of months.  I think it’s something that I would really enjoy and could potentially do very well at.

Wrap-Up

What about some of you other Buenos Aires expats that have been reading my site?  Any advice or insight about these ideas?  I know at least some of you have started your own businesses down here!

Cool Little Interview

Published on October 27, 2008 in Buenos Aires. 3 Comments Tags: , .

Last week I got contacted by www.expatinterviews.com, asking me to do a quick interview about my experiences as an expat down here in Buenos Aires.  They sent me the questionnaire and it was short and easy, so I went ahead and submitted it.  You can check it out here.

I’ll be back real soon with another post, but I’ve got a big lineup of classes that I need to prepare for.  Hasta tomorrow!

TEFL Teaching

Published on October 7, 2008 in Buenos Aires. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

I follow a lot of expat sites and blogs, and the consensus has been lately that teaching English in Buenos Aires just doesn’t pay the bills.  I’ve got some thoughts on that.  Back around 2002 it was probably fairly easy to just teach English and do well, but nowadays with the galloping inflation it isn’t so easy.

Pay for a native English speaker teaching at an institute tops out around 25 pesos an hour.  Most schools will offer around 20.  Private tutoring and lessons are more lucrative, but are very hard to come by and the competition is fierce.  The school I’m teaching at pays 25 pesos an hour (little more than $8 USD).  Hours vary, but I’ll probably end up with around 20-25 a week once I really get going.  If I work 25 hours a week at 25 pesos, I’ll be making 2500 pesos (about $833 USD) a month.  Princely living this isn’t.

All in all though, it can definitely be done.  I’m living in an admittedly more expensive area of the city (I like the nightlife, what can I say?), but if you split an apartment with a roomie and make an effort to cook at home or eat at restaurants only for lunch, you can do fine.  I’ve been bleeding some money these first two months, but that’s because I was establishing my budget and where I’ll be working.  If you bring some savings down, you can definitely enjoy yourself.

I promise to return to my regular adventures next post, but I was tired of seeing all these people telling students my age that it can’t be done.  It can be done, and I’m doing it.  So if you’re reading this and debating whether or not to take the plunge, go for it!