How to Navigate Chilean Bureaucracy + Koreans- And a Big Thank You to My Readers

Today is a big day for celebration in this blog (and also the 2012 US election but more on that later). For years I kept looking at the stats for May 6, 2008 as the highest record of readers in this blog which I’ll be honest is 186. Today I finally exceeded that. On Nov 07, 2012 I had 199 readers visit this blog. Thanks to those who shared my blog and articles- you’ve been very helpful in spreading the message of inspiration, culture and the wonders of travel. This is my vision – to undergo a thousand journeys, write stories, share them with the world and educate and inspire others to fly.

If you’ve been lurking for a while, drop a comment below or email me.  I always respond to emails and love meeting readers there. This blog’s mission was to connect with people around the world and I’ve met wonderful folks through Live Out of the Box. I have already met some of the people personally and I hope to meet more in the future.  :)

US elections - looks like Obama wonfor the second term. I  was getting nervous as my beloved Mormon friends were naturally voting for Romney and he did quite well during the debates.  What this would mean for the world global economy, the Euro crisis and US relations with China, we shall see. Elections have been held all over – Greece, Chile, the States  and this December – South Korea (their president 2MB is not well-loved. Dec is the deciding factor for their relationship with Nuclear happy DPRK North Korea). 2012 is the turning point ladies and gentlemen. 

Today’s post is a travel article I wrote on my experience in dealing with Chilean bureaucracy and tips on how to cope with it.  The story is about numerous trips to the police sans handcuffs,  punching someone or something, paperwork and meeting lovely South Koreans to boot. What they’re doing in Chile – no one knows except a lot of kimchi and shoju are surely involved.  감사합니다  (Thanks to)  박원주, Donghun Yun, Ho Seok Kim and 박원주!

Below is an excerpt of the article.

I tried not to punch a wall.

Really, I did.

The officer looked at me with her unforgiving eyes in the Civil Registry office. She told me in Spanish that I need to register in their system over again. It would have been totally fine except she has already asked me to do that before.

Twice.

Welcome to Chilean Bureaucracy.

Tramite is a pretty common term in Chile. Its most innocuous meaning is paperwork but we all know what that really means. Evil vindictive pointless bureaucracy is what it should say. Everyone in Chile undergoestramite and woe to those who get stuck in them.

Like me.

In order to register as a temporary resident here in Chile, most foreigners apply for what is called a carnet. A carnet is an ID that registers you in the government system. Think of it as your country’s ID, passport or Social Security number. All locals are required to have them and you cannot do anything in Chile without it. Unless you’re a new born baby, there comes a point where you have to go through long hellish period of paperwork to get that bit of plastic.

Take my case for example. I was asked to travel to the capital of Santiago to fix an “error” with my family name. Apparently, placing surname first on your visa does not sit well among Chilean bureaucrats. Mind you, it’s two hours travel to Santiago from my city. So I went ahead and did that. Then when I went back to the Civil Registry, I was told to go to the police to register the new placement of my surname.

Strike one.

To continue reading the article- click HERE. 

We Are Not Our Government

I’m reviving my old writing blog and just wrote a new entry in it after two years.

I have not written for two years.

Guilty as charged.

There is only one reason bloggers just stop writing and seemed to disappear from the face of the earth.

REAL LIFE

In my case it was a cocktail mix of lack of life management, social gatherings of red wine, conferences, mountains of marking papers, one miserable relationship and …. [continue]

to get the full article, click here. It’ll take you to my writing blog.

This week I felt a little bit paranoid towards my students as Philippine-China relations tensed due to an incident where a Chinese fishing boat got stranded near islands being disputed to be owned by either China, the Philippines and many other Asian countries in the South China Sea.

The Mainland Chinese are a fiercely proud race yet I worry that their tunnel vision tendencies would result in becoming hostile towards me just because our government’s’ relationships are on rocky waters, so to speak. I’m relieved though that so far my students have still acted normal towards me and have not displayed any animosity. This is part of a life of an Expat, where there may be incidents that would occur between the governments of your country of birth and the country you’re temporarily residing in.

On  that note, I do wish that many could separate government and citizens. We are not the same as our government. Many countries have the worst brutal governments but its people are some of the nicest and friendliest in the world. Take Burma, for example, its government has one of the world’s most brutal human rights records. Does that mean its people are a bunch of murderers? Of course not. Likewise, not all North Koreans are like Kim Jung-il.

Sadly, still some people think government and people are alike. Upon meeting my American travel buddy Dbau, a Burmese exclaimed, “You know I used to so hate fucking Bush. But your country is okay now. I love Obama.”