Travelling Adventures
The most difficult country I went to live in was Chile back in the early 1990’s.
I flew in from Sydney via Easter Island and landed with about £200, a surfboard and a rucksack.
To be fair just in case things had gone pear shaped I had an onward ticket to Europe but all the same it was somewhat daunting.
The first night I spent in a very cheap and somewhat dodgy hostel/hotel. The environment was very alien especially as I spoke very little Spanish on my arrival; an “O” Level 7 years previously was about my limit. And it was extra difficult trying to understand not just Spanish but the Chilean version thereof.
On the second day however I started looking for work and somewhere decent to live. However I needed the job first otherwise I could not afford to rent. So I went to all the English language schools and within 2 days I had secured a few hours work a week so this was a start.
The first few days were rather strange as I struggled so much to communicate but I keep reading up on Spanish grammar and kept going.
I then decided to put an ad in the local Santiago paper and I landed a fantastic client who was an extremely wealthy businessman who wanted to improve his English. He paid me really well and even found a house by the sea for me to live in: a place called Papudo which also had some surf which was great. So I spent the summer there teaching this businessman English and being paid pretty well also.
I think with the right attitude it is possible to get integrated into most countries and the only difficult part is those initial few weeks.
I am way too old to do it again but I still have the travel bug and would like to do some photography trips at some point but I would want to be back home in Yorkshire within 2 weeks!
I flew in from Sydney via Easter Island and landed with about £200, a surfboard and a rucksack.
To be fair just in case things had gone pear shaped I had an onward ticket to Europe but all the same it was somewhat daunting.
The first night I spent in a very cheap and somewhat dodgy hostel/hotel. The environment was very alien especially as I spoke very little Spanish on my arrival; an “O” Level 7 years previously was about my limit. And it was extra difficult trying to understand not just Spanish but the Chilean version thereof.
On the second day however I started looking for work and somewhere decent to live. However I needed the job first otherwise I could not afford to rent. So I went to all the English language schools and within 2 days I had secured a few hours work a week so this was a start.
The first few days were rather strange as I struggled so much to communicate but I keep reading up on Spanish grammar and kept going.
I then decided to put an ad in the local Santiago paper and I landed a fantastic client who was an extremely wealthy businessman who wanted to improve his English. He paid me really well and even found a house by the sea for me to live in: a place called Papudo which also had some surf which was great. So I spent the summer there teaching this businessman English and being paid pretty well also.
I think with the right attitude it is possible to get integrated into most countries and the only difficult part is those initial few weeks.
I am way too old to do it again but I still have the travel bug and would like to do some photography trips at some point but I would want to be back home in Yorkshire within 2 weeks!
