Job Discussion Forums

Neil Patrick Harris · Joined: 08 Mar 2005 Posts: 8

Hello, i've been saving and dreaming of Argentina. I would like to start out volunteering for kids who middle/lower income to then getting something with pay teaching the kids. I would have about 2K U.S. dollars-after the flight at best. I live budget style and would plan on continuing....but I still want to enjoy msyself and some things the place has to offer as well. Is this enough if I am planning on spending a 2-3 months without any income? Thank you so much!

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

yes, it's enough

snielz · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 165 Location: Buenos Aires

Indeed...just don�t wait until it is all gone before you begin to look for paid work. You will probably need some months looking for paid work, or a least a few weeks, before you are making enough to live on.

mikescapes · Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 13 Location: new york

If $2000 is enough for a couple of months it sounds like living costs are close to $1000 a month. Is BA that expensive? If so, could anyone recommend a less pricey area or even another city? I`ll be in BA end of June. Will stay in a hotel for a week or two. After that I`d like to find something more reasonablel. Any ideas?

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA

BA is about $500/month.

$1,500 for three months ... $500 for start-up costs?

Neil Patrick Harris · Joined: 08 Mar 2005 Posts: 8

Thanks for the advice, NPH really appreciates your time and words.

snielz · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 165 Location: Buenos Aires

You can live pretty cheaply if you want. You could get yourself a cart and recycle plastic if you need to (umm...I wouldn�t though). You will be able to make do for a while with $2000 US depending on how you live. The start-up costs I can�t really guesstimate, but I have been here a month and have spent about $600 US (with unusually low startup costs) so I think the $500 a month is a safe guess. The apartment will be the key I think. It sounds like a couple of you guys are coming soon. You might try to meet up and go in together (if you get along), or better yet, find someone who is already here (from work or just check the classifieds). Apartments can be tricky and you can get ripped off, especially if you are trusting and don�t know the ropes.

When you get here, don�t think you are still spending dollars or Euros. If you think in pesos but keep about the same frame of reference for costs that should be about right (at least that is what I�ve found coming from a small-ish Southern US city). Suerte.

matttheboy · Joined: 01 Jul 2003 Posts: 854 Location: Valparaiso, Chile

This website is good for accomodation. Some of it is really overpriced but some is pretty good value-there are room shares and flats available.

www.yesba.org

there's a craig's list for BsAs as well, google it. Apparently it's quite useful although i'd never heard of it b4, it's a US thing and i'm english.

amy1982 · Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Posts: 192 Location: Buenos Aires

snielz-

just out of curiousity, what are you doing for living arrangements? how is it working out?

snielz · Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 165 Location: Buenos Aires

Johnny, Seeing that new picture you�ve got up gives a whole new meaning to your first response on this thread. ha.

Amy, when I was in the US and started thinking about coming here, I got in touch with an old professor of mine. She is Argentine and I knew her in college. She, and others, helped me with advice on how to move and then just before I came, one of the tenants she had in a single apartment she owns in Palermo moved out. And there you have it- a fortuitous break. I pay her in US $ and for $150 a month I have a single bedroom, fully furnished apartment with phone and gas and lights included. It isn�t beautiful (the only windows look out into a �light well� with other buildings about 15 feet away) but it is nice. I think she gives me a good price because she was excited one of her former students wanted to come to her country. I know is rare to have something work out that nicely, but it happened because of networking. If you still have time to plan, talk to everyone you know up there. They probably know someone who knows someone who has a cousin down here. That is good practice for down here too, where networking is even more important. I really like my place and also where I am living- the middle of Palermo. I can walk to everything-museums, cinemas, parks, plazas, the subway, malls, bakeries. It is a really lively neighborhood. Almost every block is full of shops and cafes with apartments in the higher floors.

JonnytheMann · Joined: 01 Dec 2004 Posts: 337 Location: USA