Insomnia sets in

It's begun - and really - it's only the beginning. The fact that it's 2006 means that the clock is ticking ever so faster...in more ways than one.

Lately, I'm having trouble sleeping - never been a problem before. Hmmmm, could it be because in approximately 9 months we'll be packing and I'll have to shed all of the accumulated "things" that I've tended to...well?...accumulate? Of course, I'll have no choice but to clean out because there's no way I can lug all of my stuff to Argentina. I do have dreams though, of everything I've collected over the years magically fitting into one suitcase - maybe somebody knows a really good genie??? Yea right, who am I kidding, I'm a woman, I can't even go on a short trip without at least three suitcases...so I'll just have to accept that it'll be a good time to start fresh. But I'm sorry, my books will have to go with me. 

And then of course there's this baby thing. Unfortunately, my good old American insurance (that I pay through the nose for) will run out in August. So...do we just wait awhile longer and start our family there? Or do we take our chances and hope that somehow, just somehow, 9 months won't perfectly coincide with an impending birth. Sorry to all the single guys out there, I know you just could care less about this particular issue!

The sleepness nights do give me the time to come up with so many questions though. Will our TV's work there? Can I find a store that sells organic foods? How long will it take for us to get our DSL hooked up - will my Spanish be good enough to even get the order placed? Will we go there with a rentista visa? Should we wait and get it there? the list goes on and on...and like I said, this is just getting started. There are just soooo many things to think about and not enough hours in the day...

So for now, I'll just keep sharing my thoughts...and I hope you'll continue to send me emails with questions and comments.

Comments

[Monica]

Hi,
Just a comment about your article on having an American Passport with "born in Argentina". I was born in Argentina but live in Canada. I've traveled several times to Argentina with my Canadian passport, where it says that I was born in Argentina. The only problem is that you can only stay 60 days with a Canadian passport. But there are no problems going in and out of the country.

[SaltShaker]

It's almost more fun finding out as you go with all these things, but feel free to e-mail me with questions on some of that stuff if you really want to know in advance. TVs - no, different broadcasting system, but you can pay a local electronics shop to convert them to use locally. DVD players too - although you can find the codes to convert them on the internet from region 1 to region 4 players (we ended up leaving ours as region 1 because of our DVD collection that I brought from the states, only way to keep playing them other than on my laptop), and bought a second one for local use. Organic foods, yes, tons of places. Spanish, it'll come, as long as you make the effort, locals will make the effort to be understood in turn. Medical plans here are interesting - strangely, you may want to wait to "begin" a family until you've arrived and gotten your plan in place - I wouldn't be at all surprised if some of the plans were to consider pregnancy a "pre-existing condition" and refuse to cover baby expenses! Oh, and I've got a good shipping company for packing up and shipping all your stuff here... Keep musing away!