Chile Forum

My hubby, Sean, and I are both US citizens. Long story short: Sean's brother (US citizen, married to Chileana) has convinced him to come to Concón (with job waiting). I online freelance, so my work transition isn't an issue thanks to research (here especially). We both know this might not work out as far as assimilating for the long haul. Neither of us speak Chilean Spanish. His rusty (Floridian) Spanish will shape up over time once he's immersed, but my Spanish lessons are only beginning.

That said, since the farthest move we've done before is a coast-to-coast Jersey to California (and later back), my brain is still a bit uneasy despite the research I've done. It's one thing to move to a far flung place within one's native country, but to move so far to foreign soil is something that, although exciting, I've not yet wrapped my head around. I'm realizing that I just need to relax and take the moving and cultural bumps in stride as they come--but I'm not quite there yet.

I've read a lot of posts on this forum (and will continue to do so), so I've seen the gamut of doom-and-gloom and everything's-rainbows, which has helped (and given me a few good laughs.)

I guess I'm at the cusp of the acceptance stage of moving grief. (Although the more I try to cull our "stuff" down, the easier it is to slip into denial.)

In truth, I don't know what I'm hoping to achieve with this post. I guess I'm hoping for some cheerleading, to be followed by some "buckle down, and get on with it."

At any rate, I do want to thank everyone who has contributed to this site--it's been a gem to me.

Go for it, what’s the worst that can happen??? You move back stateside. Not such a big deal, but I’m a classic Canadian snowbird, only I don’t stop in Arizona or Florida.

Lily, I love posters like you. I think you will be fine. You have a good balance of "I know! Why the hell Chile? Right?" and "I'm ok if it doesn't pan out" to make it work. There are a lot of pretty normal expat people who live in Chile and love it and a lot of cooked in the head people who love it too. If you are cooked, normal or somewhere in the middle, but are open minded, don't have rose coloured lenses and a good sense of adventure, hefty dose of common sense and lots and lost of patience, you will probably be ok here. Or not, but you will still survive (and *gasp* maybe even have a fantastic time like me!) and have a great story to tell.

People with realistic to no expectations, seem to best. Anyone with any other sort of expectaion about what chile is or is not, generally disappointed.

You sound like you don't know what to expect, for lack of any comparison. So, you should do fine, because everything will be a new experience. Just don't let it be too new too fast, or it will get overwhelming.

I'm not sure about stages of moving grief, but there is lots written about Culture Shock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_shock

I was an exchange student to Bolivia in 1994, and before I moved to Chile I did a few years of volunteering with students who were getting ready to go on exchange. While knowing about culture shock doesn't stop it happening, it can really help to understand on some level that it's just a stage.

I sometimes think this forum can be overly negative sometimes simply because it's a place to rant and share frustrations about life in a different cultural framework.

I've been here two years, and I work from home. I've found it hard to make friendships with chileans even though i'm pretty fluent in spanish. Sometimes I think about getting a job here just to meet more people.

Anyway, best of luck with the preparation and move!