Time to Cry for Argentina... Starbucks is Coming!

Not to worry, Buenos Aires will be safe. Although Starbucks is coming to Argentina it should be mentioned to people who have not yet seen BA that US brands are not as ubiquitous in Argentina as in Europe for example. Unless Starbucks is willing to sell coffee for less than 1 USD per cup they can only grow so much, domestic competition should keep them honest and with a small footprint in the country. You can guess where the stores will be... major US hotels, large office buildings, airports, Recoleta, and other places where large amounts of gringos congregate.

We can only hope that young people in Argentina will stay away from the scourge we call Starbucks. *kidding* It seems every conversation I ever hear about saving for retirement that is directed to thirty-somethings always includes the obligatory advice to lay off $4 drinks everyday and invest that in a mutual fund. If only it were so easy!

Have you heard of the Escape Artist website?

Escape Artist is a really cool site about living or traveling around the world. They have newsletters or magazines that are free to subscribe to, the June 2007 issue included this great article on Buenos Aires by Virgina Brumby.

Although the article makes the familiar and unoriginal comparison that Buenos Aires is the Paris of South America, it does cover several interesting topics too. Brumby starts out with an interesting history of Buenos Aires before telling us about her time in San Telmo, Palermo's parks, and Palermo.

How is the Expat Experience in Argentina for Children?

One of the most important things we took into consideration when making the decision to move to Argentina was “How is this going to affect our daughter?” We know that there will be challenges to face and adjustments to make once we've relocated, but in the end, we want this experience to be a positive one for every member of our family. We are fortunate enough to have family members who either moved their children overseas, or who spent part of their childhood in another country. We took their experiences into account. There were challenges to be sure, but overall, each child's life was made richer by their expat experience. Seeing their successes as adults was also very encouraging to us, and was right in line with what we want for our daughter. We want her to learn that the world doesn't end at the city limits. We want her to learn about other cultures, other perspectives, other ways of living. We want her to be an open-minded, well-rounded adult. We believe that this move will be a rich experience for her.

Knowing what we know about other children's expat experiences, we were able to go through with the decision to move to Argentina. However, Jammer and I know that it is prudent to continue to gather as much information as we can from people who have been there & done it already. With that being said, we'd like to direct the following questions to those of you who have relocated to Argentina (or other foreign countries) with your children. We know we can benefit from your experience and we welcome you to click the comment link below to add a comment to this discussion.

1.How long did your child(ren) take to learn the language?

2.What do you think are/were the biggest challenges for your child(ren)?

3.In your opinion, what is/was the best part of the experience for your child(ren)?

4.What tips do you have for future expats to help their children manage the transition to Argentina and assimilation into its culture?

Related link: raising bilingual children