Expat Report: 26 months Later

I’d like to start out by thanking the readers who have shown me their love and support on my expat blog. If you haven't, don't worry. You can start now. You can also follow me on Instagram. I’m nearly two months late writing this, but I felt it was necessary to write a blog entry honoring the last two years of my life in Argentina.

Some of the things that have helped us to handle our homesickness have been food related. For example, I'm happy to report that McDonald’s recently began offering an Americanized breakfast with bacon, scrambled eggs, and two pieces of bread that come pretty close to the texture of a bagel, minus the shape or the hole in the middle.

Walmarts in Argentina now sell bacon and it tastes just like the one from home. Zach was kind enough to make some for me because I have absolutely no talent for cooking.

The public hospital in Cordoba no longer charges (an already cheap) out-patient fee, but on the downside, getting an appointment to see a doctor is a lot harder. I’ll talk more about that in a future blog article.

Now some of you know that I’ve struggled with social anxiety and depression, but fortunately, I’ve been able to get treatment for it thanks to the free health care in Argentina. As my 37^th birthday approached, I decided that I would try to control my condition on my own, without the need of a therapist or anti-anxiety medication. It’s been two months and I’ve had my ups and downs. I’ll admit that I wasn’t prepared for the mood swings or the unexpected anxiety attacks I’ve experienced. I find myself staying indoors a lot more these days. To compensate, I try to invite my friends to my house as long as there’s money for snacks and drinks.

A lot of people have asked me how college is going, so let me rip the band-aid off and tell you that I quit! The choice wasn’t easy, but I ultimately didn’t feel that the university and I meshed at all. I could spend the entire post pointing out why, but I’ve done that already in a previous entry and that’s not what this entry is about.

But before you judge me, you should know that something else had happened that helped me to make this decision. When I got here, my family did their best to support Zach and me. Unfortunately, they have their own problems and the last thing we wanted was to be a financial burden to them, so we cut the proverbial umbilical cord. 

My time is now spent entirely working as a freelance writer. The amount of income I get from the articles depends mainly on the consistency of the work. Unfortunately, that’s out of my hands. It’s usually up to my freelance handlers. I currently work for two, and they provide me with a sufficient number of articles to make ends meet every month... but just barely.

Zach has also joined the freelance writing team, but his true passion has always been in the kitchen. So he created his own website so people could order some of his amazing pastries. Visit his site: Zach’s Bake Shop at - http://darkecloude.wix.com/zachsbakeshop. Here are some photos of the amazing things he bakes.

In addition, he created a group called English & Muffins where expats and Argentinians meet at a hostel to play fun and sassy games that help non-native English speakers practice their English while enjoying some delicious muffins and cakes.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/EnglishSpeakingMuffins/

I also celebrated my 37^th birthday back in July with Zach and two new friends who threw me a surprise party. I’m usually the one planning big surprise parties for others, but it’s rare that I’m the center of attention. Suffice it to say it was awesome. They decorated the house with themes related to my favorite shows like "Supernatural" and "Star Trek" and other themes like zombies and Superman.

It seems like a lifetime ago since Zach and I stepped out of that plane in Cordob,a but there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about our old lives in the States. 

My friends back home have gone through things that I wish I could have been there for. I have one friend who lost her son in a terrible accident. I have another friend who got remarried and is expecting her first child. I used to ask her teasingly when she would make me an uncle. Now I won’t be there. I sometimes wonder if the choice we made was the right one. Would Zach and I have stayed together if we hadn't left New York. Still, we've made some friends and are attempting to make a life for ourselves here, which seems to be going okay.

Fortunately, Zach and I are still close, and married or not, we've got each other's back.