Job Discussion Forums

[srp]

I will be graduating from college this May and I am planning on going to live in a Spanish speaking country for a year or 2 to work on my Spanish. I'm mainly looking at Argentina and Chile right now, and I was hoping to hear the opinions of people in each country.

What are your favorite and least favorite things about either country?

Any particular cities that you had a great/ bad experience?

How are the opportunities for employment for Americans?

For the people who have lived in (or been to) both countries, how would you compare the 2?

For the Chile people, I have heard that Chileans (really just Santiago, I've only heard good things about the people in Valparaiso and other cities) can be a bit unfriendly, and that they speak a very difficult Spanish that is hard to get used to. Would you agree with this?

For the Argentina people, how have the recent economic problems (the devaluation) affected everyday life, both for foriegners and for natives?

Anything else anyone thinks is important that I missed?

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

ps- I'm posting this in both the Chile and Argentina forums to get both viewpoints

[Don Alan]

I think you would have got more answers if you asked one question at a time.

[matttheboy]

Don's right...a couple of questions at a time please...

My views on argentina v chile are made pretty clear on a few threads on this forum, argentine forum and the general LA forum: look out for

Accomodation in Santiago
where to live in santiago
mendoza v santiago
santiago v buenos aires (GLA forum)
chile or argentina?
best and worse spanish
best country to teach in?

I say Argentina every time!!!

[srp]

Thanks Matt, I read a lot of your other posts and they were really helpful. Yea, I guess I put a lot of questions out there for one go, I was just trying to get it all out when everything was clear in my mind. It seems you and Don are very much in agreement in your disliking of Santiago, although you both found Chilean girlfriends, so there must be a decent number of exceptions. Even so, you guys and other people I know have had pretty convincincing arguments for Argentina over Chile, so I'm leaning towards Buenos Aires right now. I would still love to hear more positives about Chile (there were a few scattered in w/ all bad stuff, but I'm sure there has to be more).

In the meantime, I've got another question (only one this time). I've been thinking over my situation, and I really don't think teaching English is right for me. I don't want to do it just because its the only way to make money in a foreign country. I've got enough money saved up to survive without an income for a few months, and I think I would enjoy an internship or volunteer experience more. I've found some placement agencies online that claim to set you up with an internship before you get there (obviously for a fee); my other option as I see it would be to just go there and ask around and hope someone has something for me to do. So my question is does anyone know anything about the credibility of these agencies? I'm guessing no because this is an ESL forum, but if anyone has heard anything about these or has had any sort of foreign internship experience it might be helpful. Thanks again.

[matttheboy]

volunteering work is actually pretty hard to come by if you just turn up. Many organisations turn away 'travellers' who want to help because they see them as unreliable.It is possible to pick up work this way but it may take you a while to get into it all. I had a friend staying with me for 3 months and it took her 2 months to make contacts in the NGO world.

You can, of course, use the placement agencies to get names of orgs and then simply write directrly to them, bypassing the agency..

Ask this on the General Latin Am forum and you should get some more responses. Good luck,

Matt

[srp]

thanks

[snielz]

srp,
I am trying to do the same thing. I may get in to teaching some english but it is not my first choice. I think other things are possible, especially if you want to work for free but it would help to have someone vouch for you. I have built a relationship with a former professor I had in college who has connections down there and they are helping me to find opportunities and they are able to vouch for you. I think this might work for you since you are still in college and college professors are well-connected and well-educated so their backing carries a lot of weight. Also, professors usually get excited when a student shows interest in something they care about, or just that they are adventuresome and want to learn and help out. Ask around at your college and see if you know a professor who knows somebody. It seems that networking is important everywhere, even more so in Latin America.

So you know, I graduated college last May and have been working with a former professor to move to Argentina this month and work with architects who work on social housing problems. All the details aren't ironed out, but the opportunities are there...