This is not just my first year in Argentina, this is also my first year living in another country than my home country. In fact I have always lived within a radius of 15 km to the place where I was born. So yes, moving here was something.

It was not as if we didn’t know the place before taking the big step. We had been coming here several times a year, so it already felt like home even before it was our home. Before, when we would come here on holiday, as soon as we returned  home, we were already thinking about when we’d be able to come back here.

But then, we thought, coming here on holidays (or –for my husband- for work) is not quite the same as moving here. But it all went smoothly. It is not as if we moved to the other side of the world, I always say, although it is the other side of the world; but with internet there is no such a thing as long distances. I am still as happy about being here as I was a year ago, and I don’t  regret moving here for one single moment.

I still absolutely love the city, I enjoy the city life. Everything close, shops open till late, crowded streets, people speaking Spanish in a melodious way that makes it sound like Italian if you aren’t really listening, I love it all, and the weather! I had real problems with the Belgian-constant-grey-gloomy-weather. Here, if it is grey and gloomy, it won’t last longer then…a week, but mostly it only rains one or 2 days. I love the heat in summer, and the winter, is nice, cold and, short!

The biggest differences :

WHAT I LOVE THE MOST ABOUT HERE

1. Drinking coffee with my husband “all morning”. Life does not start before 9am here, and that’s still early. My husbands office is at 5 min walking distance… (there : my husband left at 7:30 am to be in the office at 8am)
2. Kids being picked up and brought back to our door (there, I had to bring them to the station at 7 am and pick them up again at 5pm).
3. The weather !
4. Grocery stores around the block, open till 22h and they deliver your stuff straight to your kitchen (there, shops are open from 9am till 6pm)
5. Here going out with friends is easy. Call them if they are free today or tomorrow : short time planning. (there, arrange invitations weeks in advance as everyone has a tight schedule –including myself!)
6. The weather !
7. The way friends and others help each other with everything. Call them whenever you need them, even during work. They will let you know if they ‘can’t talk’ if not, they call you back asap! Here people work to live where as in Belgium, they live to work.
8. Spend quality time with family. Dinners, Sunday asados, can last forever.
9. Living in the city : exhibitions, museums, concerts, restaurants. If I ever go back, I will probably move to a city.
10. The weather!!
11. The low profile way of living (especially for the kids : they have realised that material things, like the type of car or the brand of clothes, are of no importance.)
12. Driving around in the city. A bit aggressive but still without stress.
13. And last but not least : the weather!!

WHAT I DON’T  LIKE, WHAT I MISS FROM THERE

1. I miss my Belgian friends and family
2. Having to pay the bills with rapipago, not being able to pay with my husbands credit card 🙂 , always needing cash at hand. (Will I ever get used to that?)
3. Not being able to carry my camera around all the time (safety reasons).
4. Dutch bookstores : now I only buy Spanish books but it takes ages to finish them so they are piling up…
5. …I can’t think of anything else right now…

As you can see the balance is still positive, so we are ready to start our 2^nd year here!!