5 Things I WISH I had known BEFORE moving to Chile 

One thing that helps in the US for everything being more efficient is that everyone knows how much cost their time. Starting from basic jobs, people are paid by the hour, so if you have to go and stand on a line for half an hour or whatever, you know the cost of that. Salaries in Chile work differently, so people have a harder time grasping the value of their time, which I think causes that people just take things how they are. It's funny how we see things in a different way regarding housing. I HATE in the US that the option of how to style, decorate, and equip a house is taken away from me. When you rent you can barely make the place your own. You do sacrifice that in spite of some practicality, which is a common trend in many things here.

Los chilenos la verdad somos muy escrúpulosos y Honestamente no me gustaría dormir en la cama que durmió otro, me da asco. Por eso compramos todo.

Love the videos Jon. My wife and I lived in Chile and plan on returning. We waited 3 hours to renew our car registration only to discover the previous owner had an $80 traffic fine. I had to pay it before the car registration could be renewed.

Hola Jon. Creo que lo de la larga espera en Starken está sucediendo debido a la pandemia, ya que en años anteriores no existía este atochamiento. Hay personas que se encuentran desempleadas, y han creado emprendimientos como por ejemplo tejidos ó artesanías, y envían varias encomiendas vía Starken a distintos destinos. Es por esto que hay mucha concurrencia de gente, y la espera es muy larga para poder ingresar esa cantidad de paquetes por cada persona. Estoy de acuerdo en que Starken debería mejorar sus sistemas de ingreso de encomiendas para evitar las largas filas. Buen video, saludos! ✌🏻

Don't worry Jon, it is not that chilean people are "genetically more patient", we hate to wait on a line as much as you do, but we don't have another option because the organization in every thing in Chile is really deficient, but trust me, WE REALLY HATE TO WAIT. It's outrageous. Maybe there is some places wich are more faster atending people, well there are a very few though.

It happen bro when i moved here in chile from india. I didn't know even single word of spanish and it is so strange that here in Chile just 2 % population i guess can speak english though my English is not perfect but i can make a great conversation. Now i know spanish as well i think 80%. Chile has been given to me lot of success. Thanku you Gracias a chile.

When you want to rent a place with basic necessities included you need to find that it says "amoblado"

Have a great day Gringo! And thank you for showing my beautiful country to the rest of the world 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Al principio creí que era un video pagado por Starken... En serio, mencionó la palabra Starken como 20 veces. Si escucho Starken una vez más, moriré. Porque el servicio de Starken es realmente pésimo. Sólo Starken podría hacerlo peor que Starken.

Si yo creo que el idioma dificulta mucho, el elegir vivir en un país u otro, uno busca su propio idioma, a eso se suman los miedos: a hacer el ridículo, no poder comunicar lo que realmente deseas decir y tantas cosas que te hacen como tú bien dijiste Jon, solamente quedarte callado en un rincón sin hablar nada. Creo que tanto tú cómo Elise, fueron muy valientes al incorporarse a una cultura e idioma que si bien puedan tener muchas similitudes, también muchas diferencias. Y por lo demás con mucho éxito, aprendiendo a amar a nuestro país, país que también los quiere por tener corazones❤️ de chileno.

Great video, as always, Jon! I remember my first time in Stgo. as an exchange student. (with 3 years of high school spanish behind me) That was - cough, cough - 48 years ago, and I still recall several of my big bloopers. Needless to say, there have been MANY more since then, and though I still am pretty quiet when there’s a group all talking, I’ve learned to laugh with them laughing at me! ❤️🇨🇱❤️

wearing a mask outside by yourself???

Hi, Jon. It's always good to know about you and your nice family. And yes, I agree with many people here, our country is really beautiful. I've lived in Canada for three years and one day I found you in the RU-vid....it was really fantastic to see so many places of my country and above all I loved the way you talk about Chile and its people. Jon, you are lucky living in Linares. I hope I won't be wrong if I say you are safer there than any other part in Chile. That's a quiet town and I remember it is the place where gas was cheaper than any other....😉 But I can't ignore that there's a great lack of punctuality in everything and everywhere.This is not good...😏 We have to be honest. Take care, stay healthy. Love to you, Elise and cute Moses😍

Hola jon. Son buenos tus videos. Te agradezco tus comentarios acerca del país que te ha acogido. Duele saber que algunos no están felices, pero resulta que es bueno siempre estar agradecido, a pesar de las dificultades, del país que te ha acogido. ¡Feliz año 2021 ¡

Hello Jon , if you think starken is a mess try to get a package from correos de chile it's a nightmare...

"I knew that in Chile they have a lot of people who speak Spanish and all that...." Wow... Surely that comment won the 'comment of the year' award in 2020...

Sooo good!!! I have felt so many of these things here!!!! Crazy about the counter tops though! 🤯🤯

I could not help laughing when you said what you said about your wife. We've all made those mistakes

No eres al único que le disgusta esperar y esperar en una estúpida fila, pero este año ha cambiado todo y ha puesto a prueba la paciencia de muchos!

All you said is true👍great video Jon👍thank you so much

Lo de tener que comprar todo cuando uno se va a vivir solo es la principal traba para emanciparse. Es alto el costo considerando que hay que dar incluso un par de meses del valor de arriendo en garantía o documentar con cheques.

Looking fwd to your other tips. Thanks!

At least you got your packagge. I've had things stolen in transit, or even severely damaged (broken computer motherboard). Now you are one of us

I know your feeling , it’ a impossible not to feel stupid when you are trying to communicate in an other language ..... it happen to everyone!!!Learning a second language in the field it’s a very complicated thing , it happens to all of us who live around the world and in need to communicate in order to survive wherever you live . The more education your background had , the more difficult is to adapt an speak like a local ( educated local I mean) Your videos are great , you are such smart guy . Thanks for showing Chile on your way , giving the chance to see many places that I ve never been or will be . Thanks again !! A+👍🏻

Uffff!! Como te comprendo... Con mi flia. Estuvimos 1 año viviendo en Maryland y tbn. Cometimos errores,pero fue enrriquecedor para mis hijos , aprendieron a hablar y escribir muy bien el idioma, tbn nos chocaron muchas de las costumbres gringas!!! En todo caso:Bienvenido a Chile😍😍😍

Al menos esperaste 2 hrs sentado, yo acá en starken estuve 4 hrs en una fila de pie, para que finalmente me dijeran "no encontramos su pedido..."

Hello Jon. Un gran Saludo para ti y para tu familia. Suerte en tu proyecto, que todo salga muy bien 👍

Me encantan todos tus videos! Son geniales ! And also I practice my English by watching them! Thank you so much for all information and I’m looking forward to seeing another video of Pucon which is a town that I’d like to visit :)

Kind regards from Talca, Jon! Nice video!

You know the pandemic has been going on WAY too long when you didn’t realize until halfway through the video that he’s wearing a mask.

agradesco que traduscas estos videos para asi poder disfrutarlo, exitos en lo hagas es una muy buena persona.

Very funny this video..jajajaja.. Welcome to Chile my friend... a wonderfull experience..jajaja 😅😅😅

Thank you for your advice and I’m sorry for your awful service and experience at “Starken”. I’ll make sure to tell all my family in Chile to avoid that carrier. Good luck to you!!!

Esperamos la segunda patita Tio Jon! Un abrazo

Aquí (Chile) hablamos español sería bueno que lo practicaras, cuando alguien de nosotros visita un país con un idioma distinto debemos aprenderlo

Jon muy buenos tus videos, y saber de tu experiencia en Chile

Como dato acerca del inglés. Antes el hablar inglés era catalogado como "cosas de cuicos" (cuicos= gente de plata. Al menos asi se entiende), por lo tanto en los colegios cuando enseñaban inglés, si alguien pronunciaba bien algunas palabras, era objeto de burlas, en especial las que terminan en "tion", como "communication" o "celebration". Fue un tema que lo tocamos en las clases de inglés en la Universidad y todos habíamos visto ese tipo de cosas en nuestros colegios (hablo de los años 90). Antes se le tenía un miedo al hablar otro idioma, pero en los últimos años recién se está tomando como una necesidad el aprender inglés. Un abrazo y gracias por compartir nuestra idiosincrasia :)

Hi Jon, Thanks for sharing your experience in my beautiful Chile. I can share my experience here in Wisconsin being a Chilean guy and man please don’t feel that those things are a mistake. Specially not knowing Spanish before. I was in the same shoes and it was tough but at the same time now that I feel extremely comfortable speaking, reading and writing it was a beautiful experience for me. Of course I would love to have known English before moving here, but it is life and we deal with it and learn and feel how pleasant is to achieve something that you never thought to achieve. Now I laugh about my mistakes of miss pronouncing something and millions things that I did while learning, but it is an experience and now I can share that with my future kids and laugh. Also even in my own native language I don’t know 100% the words. Hey Jon the other thing that I felt goose bumps is when you were looking apartments/houses in Oconomowoc. I don’t know if that was randomly or you actually lived there, but the thing is that was my very first town when I moved here from Chile. Thanks again Jon for sharing and my best good vibes for you is never feel mad with yourself because we never stop learning and that makes this world awesome! Cheers my friend from here Wisconsin!!

Greetings to the tree of you Great videos man

I wish youtube had a built in translator. Would love to read the comments.

Algeria 🇩🇿 always stands with Chile 🇨🇱 United and amicably

Grest video Jon, i agree with you about the english language almost no one speak english, i practice watching TV or movies with no subtitles it's the only way or i will forget it... saludos gringo desde Quillota...

Uncle Juan, being a Chilean American i can attest to the eternal waiting in lines in Chile. Things are worst now with the “pandemic” but whether pandemic or not we do make things difficult. In that little glimpse you shared of Starken I saw a sign that read “cash only”. We make things difficult and oddly enough people like standing in lines. We complain about it, but if we really didn’t like it we’d, like you said, not use those services. Banks, grocery stores, etc don’t feel the need to streamline and optimize because customers always come back.

I loved that part about having the guts, and star to make things happens, even if it turns out the wrong way, during this pandemic, i begin to practice every Day my english, especially the spoken part, because lets face it, many chileans can reed, write or even listen english, in an aceptable way, but is in the every day conversation that we sucks, and i think, its because, we are in somehow afraid of what others might thinks, or how much errors we will make, but we didnt realize, its only by making some mistakes, that we will be able to learn, saludos desde Antofagasta, love your videos

Hi Jon I love to follow you on RU-vid, I was born in Viña Del Mar ! You experience in Chile was the same for me when I came to USA 45 years ago ( New York City). And Like you love Linares I Love New York! Cachái !!!!! Lol 😂

I love my country, Chile. I left it when I was a child, but what I don't like about it is that the laws are very bad, people still don't know how to respect others. education is excellent but what I dislike the most is the laws and the police. I'm living in California for 40 years now and I love it. I don't think I would return to my beautiful Chile ever again, here my parents died and here I will have to die. My children are from here, my nephews are from here and my sisters, the only country they know is the US. so here I stay.

Que buena catarsis te mandaste Jon, al cabo de unos años más, te veré reclamando en las grandes alamedas como la mayoría de los Chileno/as 🤣🤣🤣👍Jajaja Saludos cordiales. Pdta: te aconsejo de armarte aún más de paciencia si te toca hacer algún trámite en el servicio público... Mucho más...🙏ohmmm 🙈👍

As someone who understands Spanish, especially Chilean Spanish I laughed so hard when you mentioned what you said 😂

Genial nuevos vídeos un gran saludo para usted y familia desde Santiago

Buen canal, saludos desde Concepción Chile

Admiro tu equilibrio.!! Mucha suerte Saludos.!!

Hello Jon... I agree. The things that you are talking about are correct. Chile is a very special country, even more if you live in Linares. Maybe, Santiago could be worst for you. A lot of improvization and disorder, waiting 2 hours in a line is a little moment. We don't speak Spanish, we speak Chilean and when we do it, it's so fast for a foreigner. But, we are changing and people learn with comments like yours. Chilean people are friendly and we think that Americans are nice and funny people... Thanks for sharing!!!

Starken esta un poco colapsada pero funcionando..debido a la pandemia y es el medio mas economico para hacer envios..en todo caso correos de chile .chileexpress tambien tienen largas filad..hay que tener paciencia👍

I have send a book once from Germany to Copiapo...Chile and it took 8 days to get there....actually very good !!!!!

Gringo in the US here. Throughout Europe I learned just how valuable Google translate can be 👍😎

Me pregunto, por qué los gringos , ( EEUU) creen que tenemos que hablar su idioma. Es el extranjero quien debe aprender el idioma del país que visita. Si alguien te responde un saludo en inglés , es cortesía. La regla «donde fueras , Haz lo que vieras,» aplica al idioma.

"necesito una cerveza"!!!!.. saludos tio Jon.

And I keep watching your Videos all the time and giving the Like.. 👍😆 Ivan.

Patience isn’t one of my skills, and every time when I go back to Chile, that get me crazy! Chile has good stuff as well, you just need more time ;) In North America there are a lot of bad things, like everywhere. In South America people is warmer, and families spend more time together.

Muy identificado con tu valentía de moverte a otro país... Linares es una zona bellisima, saludos desde UK!

Que genial!. 👍😁

Ja ja ja !! Chile . Saludos !

In my experience, most places are rented with furniture. I live in Valdivia. I would love a video with the sentences that you have gotten wrong. I feel like I haven't said a lot of embarassing things in English, but I guess it's because I have watched a lot of tv shows in English and I have picked up things from there and I actually studied English. And btw, Starken is not always so bad. I think it's because people are ordering more stuff online due to the pandemic. Cheers!

Wao... this transport is very amazing and fun.

8:01 no quería saber eso pero como soy chilena lamentablemente hablo chileno y me alegra mucho que lo sea, muy buen video jajajaja 😅

Te queremos. Exito y bendiciones.

No es fácil "nuestro español" porque hablamos con muchos modismos y además hablamos muuy rápido y no modulamos mucho, jejeje, por eso a veces los latinos no nos entienden, somos únicos!! Amo mi país!! Espero te sientas querido aquí. Chao pescao =)

Hey!! Nice videos!! I’m originally from Chile and I moved to NYC 12 years ago. I think it’s kind of funny to me to see this video because there are also soooo many things that are so hard when moving to the states, and probably even more when moving to NY. You talk about waiting in line? Hahaha, omg, in NY there are lines for everything! Haha I never got used to it. In US it’s almost impossible to rent a place if you don’t have a phone number. In the US you have the appliances coming with the apartments BUT, the fees that you pay to the brokers are INSANE!! at least in NY (some times more expensive than furnishing the whole apartment). I also moved to US without speaking a single word in english. You feel like you lost your personality, that part it’s so hard. So I get your feelings and I agree that there are always random challenges and differences that will make the beginning harder. But, don’t worry, after 12 years, you will get used to it! ;)

🙂🙂🙂.Hey Jon.I totally agree with you , I feel the pain...😄I'm a native chilean, but been living here in the US longer time than in my own country. When I come to visit Chile I get literally sick the waste of time in supermarkets ,stores, etc....forget about banking or institutional offices....So, I guess I'm more Americanized now... 😉, Hoping I won't suffer , because I've decided to go back and settle in Chile ,but I'll be in the country side, specifically El valle de Elqui. cheers man !!

Gracias a dios q nunca te rendiste y siempre tuviste un espíritu de superar todos esos errores y espero con ansias todos los demás errores ojalá no te demores tanto en en subirlo o te mando una encomienda por starken chao pescadooooooooooo

I like your Casey Neistat style man...nice vid. "Necesito una cerveza" to cook please, hahaha.

Muy bueno tu video amigo

Love it, yes patience is a virtue. We just take for granted how quickly we can be in and out of a grocery store, post office, or bank here. Looking forward to the next in the series. Do you as a foreigner living there need to do the thumb print as a native Chileno needs to do for banking? I'm amazed at that simple solution that can combat identity theft that we don't do in North America.

cuando uno arrienda hay dos tipos amobladas y cuando tu vas a traer tus propios muebles y en linares tambien hay por lo general son cabañas de veraneo o vacaciones esas son amobladas pero tambien puedes decir al dueño te la arriende por todo un año si hubieras preguntado o si hubieras hablado español eso no te habria pasado porque en chile encuentras de todo solo hay que saber como buscar

Staken tiene muchos reclamos no llegan las cosas, se pierden...ya no debería comprar por ese medio .. ....trata de comprar por otro medio

Gracias yo y mis amigos se lo agradecemos Sr y disculpe

Hahahahahaha I need that list!!! 😆😆

The lack of countertops is crazy. I have never lived in Chile as an adult and when I did live there we owned the house so I never realized that. It can potentially be more expensive to rent than rent a house in Chile.

Liked, you use the words you know. At work, talking to a frightened 4 year old I mixed up the word miedo with mierda. LOL

Hey Jon, one thing that drives me crazy when I return to Chile is going to the bank! It's usually an all morning or afternoon affair just to do a simple transaction. Also, basketball is gaining popularity in Chile, so maybe you can show off your handles in a future video ;)

Hi Jon! In Santiago you could find furnished apartments & people who speaks English...Linares is a smaller city...the same happens in your country in relation to the language! I lived there for many years!...Anyway, I enjoyed your video!

grande John ..

It is true that in Chile you need to wait long times at stores. I live there and the USA . Chileans are super patient. I admire that about them😊.Here at walmart in New York , people freak out when they have to wait 5 minutes.😱🤯. Also the Chilean people never made fun of my Spanish. Super polite.

y yo veo tus videos en ingles porque estoy practicando y aprendiendo mas y debo escuchar ingles nativo pero no me gusta escribir en ingles por eso llegue a tu canal y lo encuentro muy bueno me suscribi y veo tus videos

Iguanna see something like that ✌️😜

God! you are funny as heck John! But, seriously now. I love that you decided to go living in my country of birth! It could be overwhelming sometimes like I'm sure you have experienced already. It's a beautiful land and especially in the region you live on, the sights are amazing and there's a lot more to see and enjoy. Now you know how I felt when I arrived in the good old USA some 47 years ago, America is my home now and I love it so, I met the love of my live here and I'm happily married to her for the past 42 years. but enough about me, what made you to decide to move into Chile and if it's not prying into your life if you can divulge the reason for it? Thanks for your videos, they're very entertaining and I enjoy watching them, if I can help with anything about my country of birth, I'll be happy to assist you! Lots of luck there, living in Chile could be very rewarding!

John dont worry .Enjoy life .Can you make a video with Moises running I love to see mi chilenito hermoso corriendo.

Lo de Starken es impresentable. Deberían contratar más personas teniendo en cuenta la mayor demanda que tienen. Y creo que su nivel de digitalización es muy bajo, las bodegas son un amontonamiento de cosas imposibles de encontrar.

Hello Jon, I saw you today, about 4pm at Kurt Moller with Yungay, you were at your one wheel and I was on my way to Lider, I yelled at you "Hola Jon!" but you didn't hear me, no problem, I was in my car and there were a lot of traffic too. Great video, I hate chilean bureaucracy, it's everywhere, I can't stand it. I don't use Starken, they are a lousy company. Funny about Elise being "caliente", ha ha ha, honest mistake. Best regards Jon!

Es sabido que todo en las Regiones es más leeento y con menos recursos por eso muchos chilenos se va a vivir a la Región Metropolitana , aunque no digo que es perfecta pero funciona mejor en cuanto a servicios. Pero en las regiones tienen la tranquilidad y espacio y áreas verdes que acá no hay.

yes in south america we breath and live football or "Soccer''

Paciencia es lo que más tenemos los Chilenos,eso me pareció increíble cuando viví en Canada,todo era de inmediato sin fila en los bancos ,era una maravilla.La realidad en Chile es la paciencia 😆😆😆

Hola profe mucho sin verlo, un abrazo a ti y familia desde mininco novena region

Chike expres la lleva...lo bueno que si hay errores responden...ahora la culpa de las empresas es no fiscalizar a sus trabajadores...que muchas veces no hacen bien la pega...quizás por el salario o sueldo o porque no tienen otra mejor ...pero aun así me enseñaron que si haces algo o trabajas en ello se el mejor🥂🎄🤩❤

Very good video i feel you innso many ways, cuss i move to usa in 1998 at 28 years old and with no english whatsoever ,imajine that .lol Hit me up cuss im back chile until 2022 working and visiting family. Cheers brotha

I mean in the US somethings take forever not everything but somethings waiting to get my photo taken at the DMV took 3 hours once for me. I once had to get my high school diploma authenticated that took weeks to get done.

En chile para arriendos largos las casas suelen venir vacías completamente algunas no todas pero así suele pasar y en arriendos turísticos como vacaciones donde suele ser diario el cobro ahí los arriendos vienen con todas las cosas que necesitas

Having to turn down potentially AMAZING apartments in Santiago because I didn't have the money to buy a fridge and stove was a huge pain in the neck. I still don't understand why renters need to own huge, expensive appliances that we need to drag around the city every time we move. Thankfully every place I've seen so far has had countertops hahaha

Deberías hacer un video acerca de "frases locas" y errores graciosos que has tenido hablando (o intentando hablar) español

Guau !... Como corre ese niño ... !... Creo que será atleta ...sii... ! ... Y ... representará a Chile en las olimpiadas...obvio!