Introduction - Barking Bandicoot

There are 14 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,181 times. The latest Post (December 23, 2024 at 11:37 PM) was by UK Man.

    Hello all!

    I am an educator of about 20 years. School teacher then tutor.

    I arrive in Buenos Aires on NYE. (Hopefully I can find somewhere to eat! :eating-sandwich:Restaurants need bookings and none seem to want to reply to my emails. Apparently everything is shut New Years day also! eek!)

    I am hoping to set up as a tutor for English speaking students that are homeschooled or for those that attend International schools who need extra tuition. Perhaps find employment in an International School.

    I will also be launching an online education platform soon for critical thinking students who are liberty orientated.

    I have an airbnb booked for January in San Telmo. If any expats hang there I would love to meet up and have a Malbec with you!:cheers:

    ps. I am Australian.

    nb. Thanks Splinter for signing me up! 🙏

    Hello Barkingbandicoot ,

    I am glad we are getting a variety of nationalities on the forum! Welcome here and soon in Buenos Aires, too.

    Based on my experience in Argentina, Whatsapp is the channel most used for interactions with restaurants and stores. You can usually find their Whatsapp number in their Instagram profile. It may be advertised in a post or in a submenu or link in the "profile" section under the IG handle.

    Whatsapp is also the main messaging app used in Argentina, so you will need also for your personal and work-related interactions.

    I suspect that booking in advance with no deposit on NYE is a tad risky for a restaurant. Not your fault, but the locals are notorious for changing their mind and not showing up at all, or to show up very late.

    Welcome to the forum, mate!

    Welcome, Barkingbandicoot ! Besides having the best imaginable forum name, you seem to have a very interesting professional plan for your life in Buenos Aires.

    I look forward to hearing about your impressions of the city and your NYE/NYD adventures. You will most certainly find places to join up with people, and I hope you find the city’s welcome a warm one.

    Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!

    Quote from serafina

    Whatsapp is the channel most used

    Yes, it seems this is the case all over Latin America. Ugh! I do not use Whatsapp, Meta or any proprietary software unfortunately. Libre software for me! Hopefully I can navigate this.


    I look forward to exploring Argentina more and frequenting this forum for all your valuable insight!

    Welcome chap.

    Buenos Aires is a peculiar place when it comes to international schools. By the strict definition they might be recognised by, Argentina only really has one which Id venture to identify as Lincoln School.

    Mostly you will find bilingual schools which arent the same thing at all. St George’s, St. Hilda’s, St. Andrew’s, even BAICA etc.

    There’s actually dozens of them and actually probably a number running around or over a 100 in BA and BA province alone. But they’re not what you will recognise as International Schools.

    Welcome, Barkingbandicoot.

    As serafina mentions, most business only comunicate with public via WhatsApp. I also refuse to install that on my phone. You can setup the open source Beeper to relay WA messages from a running machine to the Beeper client on you phone. You still need a WA account. It's all a bit complicated but the only way I have found to communicate in Argentina.

    aficionado , I’m curious. Why don’t you want to install WhatsApp on your phone? Although Argentina is the only place I use it, I’ve found that all of our friends in Argentina use WhatsApp exclusively, so I downloaded the app in order to be in touch.

    Quote from Rice

    aficionado , I’m curious. Why don’t you want to install WhatsApp on your phone? Although Argentina is the only place I use it, I’ve found that all of our friends in Argentina use WhatsApp exclusively, so I downloaded the app in order to be in touch.

    The main reason is I want to minimize my support for Meta. They have shown from the beginning of FB that they do not respect anyone's privacy. In general many many times they have been found guilty by US and EU regulators of mistreating customers and their data. They have been given inconsequential fines, and then continue again. They make profits which I do not want to contribute.

    For WA to be installed on phone, they start by forcing me to give them access to my contacts. There is no technical reason for this. The app, and all similar chat applications work fine if they do not force this need. Instead I use Beeper to communicate with any WA person or business that I require.

    I am looking to ditch my Fb page as I am really disappointed with FB s response to several questions.

    In my liked pages there are at least 200 pages I have never visited. FB cannot tell me when and where they were like from.

    There are several in eastern languages which I will never understand. Again no response from FB

    I will be looking into Beeper as soon as I get home tonight.

    Quote from GlasgowJohn

    I will be looking into Beeper as soon as I get home tonight.

    Beeper is only for chat message services. WhatsApp is one. Oh, it does FB and Instagram messaging too. OpenSource, so 3rd parties can review and discuss the code. and recently purchased by Automattic, the same company who runs Wordpress.

    It is a bit technical since you need to run a bridge-relay on a Linux/mac/win you own somewhere or in the cloud. They explain so it is not too difficult, just different.

    It will not help with your Facebook post or groups. https://www.beeper.com/

    Unfortunately, large companies make it so that it’s either their way or no way at all. I do use FB for my business, so I can’t leave it. On my personal profile, I just post about animals and nature, as several clients have decided to add me on FB, and they are from all the political spectrum. Mind you, I initially installed FB because it was a thing for college students (which I was at the time), then kept it to share pictures with family without messaging the same stuff over and over privately. Finally, it spread into my work sphere and to keep myself updated on local businesses and events.
    If I hadn’t had Facebook, it would not have done many things in my life.
    So, while I resent it for invading my space, I am also appreciating its value.

    I mostly use Facebook to keep in touch with old friends and workmates in Scotland. I suspect I'd have lost touch with most of them if I didn't have an account. In fact it was through Facebook I found them or they found me after years of not seeing them.

    I don't use it every day though.