Commute
Being a Londoner I thought I was fully equipped for any sort of daily commute. I was wrong. So wrong.
The transport system in Santiago is quite similar to London (Oyster Card) in the way that there is a touch based pass system called a Bip! (Yes, the exclamation point is included) card. Which to be honest makes much more sense than an Oyster card. Travel is also significantly cheaper than London and with a lot less delays. However, if you happen to go to the metro station or the bus stop at the wrong time...
The crowds are the worst I have seen people tend not to be so careful with personal space as in London (hard to believe) and it is very easily possible to miss your stop because people refuse to move out the way no matter how much you say 'Permesso' which is the equivalent of excuse me.
Work
What am I doing in Chile I imagine I hear you ask me? I am part of a Start up program that kick starts businesses. Each business gets $40,000 dollars to spend on their business. I am the programmer for leadership evaluation website called Rankmi. You can find our site at rankmi.com. This program is funded by Corfo which is a financial branch of the government.
From what I have gathered and seen things are definitely a little more relaxed here on the work front. People tend to be a bit more relaxed about the time they spend on breaks and lunches. You tend not to see people rushing around too much going to and from work.
Language
No one really speaks much English here, so the language barrier does exist. The language has it's quirks too with the occasional 's' being missed from the end of sentences to the addition of 'po' at certain points. The speed in which Chilleans speak is definitely faster then in other Spanish speaking countries such as Spain and Argentina. Some other colloquial quirks include 'wayon' and 'bakan' however these can be definatly considered slang. I will delve into this subject a bit more deeply in later posts when I have grasped a better understanding of the language.
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