Debora and William

Debora and William; Australian Voice

Interviewer: Ivan Concha

Interviewee: Debora and William

For this interview, we talked with an Australian marriage called Debora and William; they have been married for 25 years and they are still falling in love with each other. They came to Chile for holidays and they are very impress with our country. 

Debora denoted that the life in Chile is very similar to Australia and also they told us that the people from Chile is very friendly and helpful with tourists. 

We asked them about the immigrants in their country, so they answered that they have a lot of immigrants like Vietnamis, Irish, Japanese and many people of Meddle East, but they also told us that they don’t discriminate that much, because they know that immigrants are escaping from war or from a bad situation in their country for instance they think that immigrants are looking for a better life.

Furthermore Debora denoted that in their country the immigrants   who knows the same language or the people who is from the same country created communities, so they can stay together in different cities.

Debora and William told us that they feel safe and very good here in Chile, they claimed us that in Santiago they saw new buildings everywhere, so for they, that it means that our country is a country in progress.

Debora and William denoted that they haven't seen discrimination here in Chile, so that bring us an idea about how is the discrimination in others countries. In addition, if a couple of Australians told us that they don't have been feel discriminated in Chile and that they haven't seen discrimination, is because we don't do that with immigrants from countries like USA or Australia, but if we  ask this question to a Peruvian person or a Bolivian person, probably the answer will be different. This tells us that we must have a better tolerance with people who are not like us, they are humans and they deserve the same respect that we receive.

Piero, Alexis And Valentina.

We interviewed an American person (Unkown)

He came to Chile because he had two options to travel, Chile or Colombia. He chose Chile because here is Los Angeles and he knows some people of that city.

He told us the following answers:

Mr. John Doe:

He claimed that he was amazed about the hills and the houses on it. Also he liked the architecture of the structures, the art on the walls, and the painted trash track, because he thought that is a way to express the freedom of the city after the dictatorship. In addition, he felt sad about the history of the country in the time of the dictatorship and the abandoned prison of jail hill and the things that happened there.

Besides, he felt comfortable with us, for he put forward that Chileans are nice, kind, and friendly people, he thought that because we were willing to answer any of their doubts including the best restaurants to eat. He denoted that his favorite dishes were: Porotos con Rienda, Empanadas, and Cazuela, but he wants taste more. One of the important things that he noted to us was that he wants to come back to Chile, for he had a beautiful experience.

We think that although they felt comfortable here, we need to improve our services and streets, we must make a change cleaning our city, taking care of the monuments and the patrimony of humanity. We need to give them more confidence and help them in every thing that we can, because they arrived here with the best expectative about us and we can't disappoint them. It is very important that we try to communicate with them, because for us is necessary the communication.

Interview to Austin Carter, Citizen of the USA, American

As the access team asked us, we went on the quest of finding an immigrant whose native language is English to make to him, her, or them an interview. After a long journey we found one, his name was Austin Carter. He was a citizen of the United States. He denoted he has been living here in Chile since 2008. He told us that he come here to study journalism at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago. His Girlfriend is Chilean but he is not married yet. He told us how he met her, he was walking in the Santiago´s Metro when he saw the most beautiful girl that he has ever seen and he didn´t doubt in talking to her.

Once he finished his studies in the University he went to back to the USA but he couldn´t resist in his country for more than a year, so he come back to Chile again. This time he decided to stay here and live the rest of his life. He told us that it wasn´t so difficult for him to get used again to the people or the culture. We asked him where he is working. He noted that he is working in the Newspapers “El Mercurio”.

We told Austin that we are in a program called Access where we are learning English. Also in the program we have learned about immigrant. We talked with him about the theme and we asked him about what he thinks about immigrants in his country. He said that in his country are a lot of immigrants especially where he lived as a child. He said that most of the immigrants choose the USA to work because it is easier to them to find a job.

After a good interview with Austin we bid him farewell and we gave thanks to him for lend us some of his time. Finally as a group me make a reflection about the experience of Austin in Chile and we think that it is grateful that Austin accepted our culture. We as Chilean should be always open to learn about other cultures and accept them in our country.

Gian Franco- Paula Pizarro- Victor Cano

                      CHILE FROM A DIFFERENT VIEW

                           

          We had a school project, and we have to discover what do immigrants on tourist think about us.We interview Abbie Adams, and she told us the perspective about it.

Abbie is American, she came from California, Los Angeles, but she told us that she was born in Texas. Abbie denoted that California is very noisy, and there is a lot of traffic, so Abbie admitted that Chile is her dreamed place, because here is quieter than California.

Abbie put forward that Chile completed her expectations, but also she rejected because of Chilean people, she told us that Chile is very dirty, she realize that Chileans throw trash in every place.

We asked her why she came here, and Abbie noted that she comes for her holidays, and she chose Chile because she also has family here, she hasn’t seen them for a long time.

About Abbie’s personal life, she claimed that she is a psychologist, and she has a boyfriend called Gian Franco. Her love story started at the University, she admitted that he was her classmate. Abbie put forward that he is the love of her life, and that is why she bring him to Chile for the holidays.  Abbie also admitted that she loves Chile, and she will come back.

We told her that there are a lot of immigrants here, and she also told us about how is the life of immigrants in the United States. We asked her if she have seen Americans here, and Abbie said that she has made a few friends here, and they think that Chile is a country who discriminated immigrants, but they also don’t see that as a bad thing, because most of the Americans do the same.

Personally, we think that Americans and Chileans, and all the people, all around the world discriminate immigrants, because we think that they are different, and the point of view of the people who discriminate is that the immigrants steal jobs, money, and opportunities, but they don't realize that if you have dreams, you have to follow them, and that is what immigrants do. 

The Immigrant Experience

This blog is for the Access students to publish their experience during the Immigrant Experience summer course. Here you'll be able to read their impressions when interviewing tourists and immigrants for the final project of the class.

Have fun writing and reading!

The Access Team.