Chile Forum

Hello ...

zer0nz wrote:My Name is zer0nz, Just checking in!

not sure how to do this! lol! canada

I am a native Chicagoan. I lived in Germany for a year. The best time of my life was spent in college in New York City. Have visited France and Chile ( parents are from Ecuador and Chile).
I am a visual artist and English teacher.
My research on this site is for relocating to Chile with my boyfriend. He is an environmental scientist born in Poland.
We want to find a place to settle and be close to nature where we can go fishing, canoeing, etc.
Thus far I fear the prejudice among South American countries and what it will be like raising a family in a culture different from my own. I am clueless to social issues that might affect me based on what I look like. When I visited I was met with hostility ( I guess I look very indigenous) but when I opened my mouth and spoke American English people were a little too willing to be extra friendly all of a sudden. I am just an American who has wanted to connect with my roots all my life. I feel that America is all about civil rights, which is what I feel safe in. Who knows, I might become an activist. So here goes...

amandaloop wrote:I am a native Chicagoan. I lived in Germany for a year. The best time of my life was spent in college in New York City. Have visited France and Chile ( parents are from Ecuador and Chile).
I am a visual artist and English teacher.
My research on this site is for relocating to Chile with my boyfriend. He is an environmental scientist born in Poland.
We want to find a place to settle and be close to nature where we can go fishing, canoeing, etc.
Thus far I fear the prejudice among South American countries and what it will be like raising a family in a culture different from my own. I am clueless to social issues that might affect me based on what I look like. When I visited I was met with hostility ( I guess I look very indigenous) but when I opened my mouth and spoke American English people were a little too willing to be extra friendly all of a sudden. I am just an American who has wanted to connect with my roots all my life. I feel that America is all about civil rights, which is what I feel safe in. Who knows, I might become an activist. So here goes...

Welcome Amanda. Could you expand on what kind of hostility you've been met with? Everyone in Chile likes to say that they're not racist, but indeed class-ist. I don't believe them.

Also, I'm always curious: how's your Spanish? I've had American-Latino friends who run the gamut of "I barely know how to say Hola" to native-speaker.

Hi,
Hahahaha.....I like the message arriba!!! Very funny! The Troll police!! I hope you have managed to get down to Chile!
I´ve just registered again because the first time I didn´t post anything. I have had a good read of the posts and replies on this site from Gringos, Chilenos and the like and I would also like to say thanks! I think this site is fantastic and I wish I had known about it sooner! Many of the posts are very informative; real eye openers! I am from London and I arrived here with my Venezuelan boyfriend; we met in Tenerife, lived in Venezuela for four months, Uruguay for five months and then came to Chile. I had a pretty slow start here in Chile; I was totally confused by the visa process - especially when we went to the "Ministerio de Extranjería", to get "Visa Permits", and my boyfriend was charged CLP 90,000 and I was charged CLP 300,000. I was told, this was 50% of the total cost of a Contract Visa but that was a lot of money for me at the time. We had both been offered jobs however my chance fell through because of Visa problems. I got all caught up in the system and we concentrated on getting my boyfriend legal. We must have gone to the ME millions of times!!! We never seemed to get the information we needed or there was always an unresolved issue when we left! When my boyfriend said that his father is Chilean, everything was suddenly dealt with, with great speed and efficiency, it was impressive! My boyfriend worked in a Print Factory for about a year, worked anti-social hours and got paid terribly, but sorted all his papers out; now he works for one of the major phone companies here in Santiago, his pay´s okay but he still has to work more hours than I do. I eventually sorted my visa out, paying, what felt like an enormous but worthwhile sum but this was after filling my passport with "Argentina" and "Chile" stamps when leaving and entering the country every three months! I spent my first months here in Chile all worried about my visa, work opportunities etc. while all around me were telling me..."blue eyes, blond hair!!!! It´s easy for you" ..... We lived outside the centre, near to Blanqueado in un barrio which is totally "Fleite" and dodgy and we got overcharged for a tiny little flat that was a danger trap!!! One night it started raining and the electricity cut..... the rain was pouring down onto the patched up roof and corrugated iron......straight onto all the electricity cables! This is just one example; we had problems with gas, the toilet, cockroaches, The Landlady etc!!! All part of the experience! I think this start-up knocked me sidewards for a while and it took me a while to accustom to life in Chile. We feel very lucky and grateful that we have managed to get out of that area/situation and find decent jobs and do well for ourselves. We are very happy to be here in Chile! Thanks to Chile we are able to live together happily and comfortably!

wiscondinavian wrote:

amandaloop wrote:I am a native Chicagoan. I lived in Germany for a year. The best time of my life was spent in college in New York City. Have visited France and Chile ( parents are from Ecuador and Chile).
I am a visual artist and English teacher.
My research on this site is for relocating to Chile with my boyfriend. He is an environmental scientist born in Poland.
We want to find a place to settle and be close to nature where we can go fishing, canoeing, etc.
Thus far I fear the prejudice among South American countries and what it will be like raising a family in a culture different from my own. I am clueless to social issues that might affect me based on what I look like. When I visited I was met with hostility ( I guess I look very indigenous) but when I opened my mouth and spoke American English people were a little too willing to be extra friendly all of a sudden. I am just an American who has wanted to connect with my roots all my life. I feel that America is all about civil rights, which is what I feel safe in. Who knows, I might become an activist. So here goes...

Welcome Amanda. Could you expand on what kind of hostility you've been met with? Everyone in Chile likes to say that they're not racist, but indeed class-ist. I don't believe them.

Also, I'm always curious: how's your Spanish? I've had American-Latino friends who run the gamut of "I barely know how to say Hola" to native-speaker.

Small stuff but out of the blue at malls and hotels (shoving in non crowded places, lack of service). I know perfect Spanish but with American pronunciation so I hope to sound completely Chilean in the near future so I can fit in better. One year fro summer break from college, I was in a cab with my mom and brother in Santiago and we briefly said we were Ecuadorian so as not to admit we were American (we didn't want to get ripped off) so the taxi guy gets all Oprah on us saying " I know our countries have friction but I believe that peace is possible and when I hear prejudice things, I always disagree." But my brother and I knew NOTHING about this but when the cab driver started to get a bit emotional we stopped him and quickly admitted that it is not necessary to get into this discussion and that we were American. He was pleasantly surprised.lol . Later we spoke of other stuff.

Well, here is my first post so that I don't lose my new account. I am from San Antonio, TX; married; have two kids; originally a military brat who lived abroad then and later in life lived in the U.K. for eleven years. Looking for a change. Perhaps looking to get into the restaurant business. Thinking Temuco might be a good place to consider. Would love to hear from others.

By "looking to get into the restaurant business" do you mean to say that you have previous restaurant experience? The restaurant business is one of the businesses with the highest failure rates. Moving to a foreign country with different norms/work ethic/food tastes/employee honesty is something I would think long and hard about. Even some of the US's biggest franchises have gotten doing business in Chile wrong.

Hey, I'm a total newbie to Santiago. 29 years-old, from Philadelphia, moved here with the bf from Buenos Aires where I lived for many years. Anyone wanna hang out?

Hi everyone,

Paul here checking in. Live in Austin Tx with my beautiful Chilean. I really would like to move to Chile. My wife has Chilean citizenship. I am in IT. worked at Dell, IBM etc. I am a DBA\SQL developer. If I do relocate to Chile. I don't know what I would do. My spanish is not very good yet, I am working on it. What kind of opportunities are available? Any startups? Import/export?

Thanks

Hi- I'm not sure where to post this question- so hopefully this will work. My 15 year old son is heading to Chile soon and he is allergic to dairy and eggs. He will be able to go shopping at the Jumbo when they arrive in Santiago. I would like to tell him what sandwich breads are safe for him to eat/buy before he goes. HE does not speak Spanish- so reading labels is hard. I have looked on the Jumbo website and see the brands of breads they carry, but I can find no ingredients listed. Does anyone have an answer to this or can direct me to a place that I can find the ingredients? Thanks

Hello everyone,

I've visited the site for a couple of years now. Lots of great info

About me. I was born in Chile and moved to the US when I was three. Returned about 20 years ago to go to college. Not really my choice though. Tried/still trying to adjust