Near the house of Pablo Neruda (famous Chilean poet) in Valparaiso, Chile
Blogpost by Daniel Ajisafe reflecting on his time as a English Language Assistant in Santiago, Chile as part of his compulsory year abroad for his Spanish degree at the University of East Anglia.
Year Abroad Destination: Santiago, (Maipu – outskirts of Santiago) Chile
In 2011 I spent 9 months in Chile as part of the British Council Language Assistants Program. Being chosen was a big deal for me as it represented a huge opportunity. In retrospect this was one of the best decisions I ever made. It is one of the experiences that I believe have had the most impact on my life as a graduate.
When I found out that I would be posted in Maipu, in the outskirts of Santiago – a place that didn’t even have a metro station – I can’t say that I was thrilled. My first trip out to the sticks was a long anxiety-filled affair, navigating this huge unfamiliar city, all the while wary of hitting the ground running and of course not getting lost. My anxiety disappeared as soon as I walked in through the doors of what would be my place of work for the next 8 months. My colleagues were so welcoming, friendly and supportive. Teaching students that wanted to learn was also surprisingly easy. My first class was a one-on-one class, my student was advanced and eager. I came through unscathed and never looked back. For someone whose main motive for going to Chile was to have “the adventure of a life time”, teaching had a surprisingly lasting effect on me. For one it gave me a lot more confidence. Standing in front of a class of student’s and “faking it til you make it” made me feel like I was capable of anything. I developed a bond with my students, my responsibility and my colleagues that would lead me to return to teaching several times after I returned to Europe. It was without a doubt the most rewarding job I have ever done.
My anxiety disappeared as soon as I walked in through the doors of what would be my place of work for the next 8 months. My first class was a one-on- one class, my student was advanced and eager. I came through unscathed and never looked back.
Marveling at the recently erected flagpole in front of La Moneda the presidential palace in Santiago
Moving literally to the other side of the world does, of course, have its challenges. You couldn’t confuse Santiago with London for even a minute. Culturally, they are about as far as they are geographically. The most important thing I learnt there was to respect that cultural distance. Attitudes towards things like politics, class and race can vary drastically between different countries. Going abroad with an inflexible attitude will ultimately be to no one’s detriment but your own. It takes time to understand a foreign culture. The further that culture is from your own, the more time it may take. I needed about 4 months to learn these lessons and fully adapt to where I was. This has led me to not judge a book by its cover and to try and see things from a different perspective because we are always meeting people that in some way have been educated differently to us.
In the end Chile was everything I hoped for and more. I will never forget the people I met there. I am so grateful to have had a genuine experience and the opportunity to experience their culture in such a wide variety of ways. I was only able to do this because Chileans themselves invited me to eat and drink with them, visit amazing beaches with them and even to spend Christmas with them and their family. (Gracias Paulie!)
Going abroad with an inflexible attitude will ultimately be to no one’s detriment but your own. It takes time to understand a foreign culture. The further that culture is from your own, the more time it may take. In the end Chile was everything I hoped for and more.
At a beach near Coquimbo, north of Santiago
Karaoke party with colleagues from the Instituto Chileno-Británico de Cultura
It wouldn’t be right to not mention that I was also able to visit Peru and Bolivia during my vacation time, but that is a whole other story…..
In the Salaar de Uyuni, Bolivia with two of the best
If you would like to find out more about the British Language Assistant Programme, head to:
https://www.britishcouncil.org/language-assistants
