Chile Forum

picalena wrote:El Pescado -

Like I say, we are looking for reasons to stay out of US, but one that you could throw out for your wife as reason to move back to US:

At least in Indiana, it is likely that the yutes won't use the Day of the Lady to jump in the gazing pools, set stuff on fire, force everyone in the neighborhood to close their windows on a very hot day to avoid the teargas and noise, randomly destroy banks and buses, smash up windows, and generally cause disruption.

[Other parts of US, maybe, but Indiana, not likely.]

pl

In the USA they only do it when their team loses.

momof3 wrote:In the USA they only do it when their team loses.

Agreed! Definition of team, however, expanding beyond sporting events. I will leave it at that.

pl

What Chuck and California South said. There are reasons that more and more people are *leaving* the US every day.

The home invasion threats are real, and that's just from your average guy on the street, never mind gangs or what will happen when the riots really get started. I live in one of the absolute safest parts of the country, in a town where virtually nothing has ever happened, and in the past few months, we've had more episodes of houses being cased, attempted break-ins, cars vandalized, suspicious people wandering the streets, etc. than we've had in the more than 20 years I've lived here total, and that's just in my neighborhood. We at least still have police coverage; more and more municipalities nationwide are literally eliminating their police forces, along with basic services like garbage collection, and some are even literally turning off the streetlights and selling their own municipal buildings!

No place is perfect, but there's something to be said for living in a place that's already experienced troubles of these sorts and is prepared for it - and whose economy is not in the process of completely melting down, or dependent on the dollar. That higher salary in Indiana will be good only as long as inflation doesn't spiral out of control and the dollar completely die the painful death it's heading quickly for. And that 401(k), pension funds, etc. will be of use only as long as the government doesn't take over the pension funds, etc., which it is quickly headed towards doing.

Come back if you must. Can I have your job and house in Chile if you do?

Did someone mention that cottage cheese is available here in Chile (Jumbo)? At 2000clp for a 200g tub, that makes it pretty expensive. That probably makes it around twice the price of what you can get in the US. So I guess the reason should be cheaper cottage cheese.


Another reason could be that in the US when you buy a used car, the seller won't pull a fast one on you.

Hmm, that's not true. I bought a Camry in the US and it had radiator problems. I had the radiator cleaned out, but that didn't fix the problem so I had to have the radiator replaced. Now the Goodrich place should have diagnosed the problem more accurately in the first place. I didn't have time to replace the radiator myself.

Deep thoughts by mlightheart...
Really, you found cottage cheese?!

My worst paranoid fears: (1) Being forced to return just in time for the chaotic stage of the collapse (2) Getting trapped there on a visit due to a supposed national emergency which results in restrictions on all outgoing passenger traffic.

gringalais wrote:

swdchile wrote:Deep thoughts by mlightheart...
Really, you found cottage cheese?!

http://quillayes.cl/?p=1027

Yep, that's the brand. Jumbo also had Quillayes ricotta cheese too.

patagoniax wrote:

El pescado wrote:Thank Px! Your pie chart has been documented.

Anything else I can do for you? Insult someone? Disparate some poor workmanship on your behalf? Say denigrating things about the criminally undeserving? Express loathing for abysmal customer service and poor governance? Perform miracles of mass euthanasia? Exorcise the demons of foolishness, sloth, and stupidity? Or any of my many other expert services.

Always happy to help.

Ya got me Px.

Once you go expat, you never can really go back.

That is what I was told by a permanent ex-pat Brit around my fifth year in east Asia. In about the only time I had a serious conversation with this man, he pulled me in his office, shut the door and told me it was time for me to go home. From 40 years of watching expats, he thought that for most, once you are outside for more than five years, you can never really go home.

I ignored the advice and went home after 11 years. A mistake. I have never "fit in" again. Not with the friends who stayed behind, not really even with family who travel widely, are multilingual and do business outside the US regularly.

I don't know what is different, I do know many other expats who have had trouble reintegrating and whether the too late rule is five years or seven, I don't know either. (Might be a good question for others like Px and G&J who have never gone home.)

At least in my case, it wasn't that the foreign settings were "better" than what I had left or returned to - Asian countries have a number of shortcomings and where I live in the States is very attractive.

It's just a matter of not feeling at home anymore. I think you should consider this before assuming that you can just move home and life will go on as if you didn't leave.

---------------------------------

Here's a second thing to consider. I returned to the US on biz trips on average 3 times a year. In retrospect, the gaps were just long enough to discern changes which one might miss if living full time in the US - kind of like a jumpy old movie at 15 frames per second. Most of these changes I saw were not in a favorable direction, from the coarsening of the culture to manias for war and financial bubbles.

I don't think the locals were as aware of what was happening as regular visitors were - or maybe it was just the warm welcome by US customs at 6 AM after 30 hours of travel....

Now, I think the rate of change has accelerated to the point where one can see these changes without leaving town. We are in a Quickening; it feels like a non-linear change process and I fear an event horizon right around the bend. I feel like a Jew in Munich in 1937... I am still looking out and it kind of shocks me to read about people returning voluntarily. True the band is still playing and the lights are still on but the ship is doomed and up close it is going to be ugly by the lifeboats.

If the US goes down one of the many rabbit holes up ahead, will you regret having returned or pat yourself on the back for looking around Chile for an alternative first?

At least buy a RT ticket on that side before you go.. for insurance.

Laser precision insight NCFYM.

I think five years is an accurate mas o menos cutoff line after being here (except for yearly, bi-yearly at the beginning, short trips back to the States) and watching many expats come and go with only a select remaining after five.

It would be interesting to compare a list of resident in Chile forum users back in 2007 to how many are still here today.

no country for young men wrote:Once you go expat, you never can really go back. . . .

My history and perspective:
+ born and raised in the US
+ lived/worked in the UK for ~5.5years from 23yo to 29yo
+ upon return to the US I realised I could not and did not want to live there
+ worked (and sometimes lived) in Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea for ~four years in my early to late thirties
+ emigrated to Australia, which I now feel more of an attachment to than anywhere else.

But after working in SI and PNG, living in a developed country became "boring as bat shit".

I recently emigrated to Chile. Some say Chile is a developed country. In my brief experience I would say it is borderline. But it is certainly more interesting.

I reckon the risks when living in a not-fully-developed country will be much less than when the US (and later Australia) implode.

I might be wrong. Time will tell.