Today we are glad to introduce to you all, our good friend Carola, who left a busy life in Santiago Chile, to start a family next to the Danube river in Lom.
She has been living here in Bulgaria during the last 7 years and now she will share with us her story.
Name and Nationality :
My name is Carola Orellana , I´m Chilean.
Tell us a bit about you and what you do
I´m an English and Spanish teacher in a High School in Lom, Bulgaria.
Why and when did you came to Bulgaria
I came to Bulgaria seven years ago just married with my Bulgarian husband Mariyan and with my one-year-old son Miroslav.
What do you like and miss about your country of origin.
I like a lot of things about Chile but I would say that the most important feature I like ( and therefore miss… ) is the way we live and specially how we interact with people, we are a kind and warm-hearted country. I really miss my wonderful friends, to have a nice laugh with them and my family of course…very much, especially now that I have a niece who is so lovely, I would really like to be part of her daily life…
What are the differences between your country and Bulgaria.
There are some obvious differences such as the language and the alphabet which in my case absolutely terrified me at first sight, however, now, I´m absolutely fascinated by it. Some behaviors also and the way that people interacts.
What do you like about Bulgaria?
I’m grateful to Bulgaria because it gave me the opportunity to work in my profession again and set new challenges in my life. I also think that Bulgaria is a country that values enormously and therefore respect the role of the family, just some examples: maternity leave is 2 years (extendable to even 3). As a teacher I´d like to mention that here elementary and secondary education is for free, children have access to high profile schools to learn languages, computing and technologies.
I cannot forget the amazing sea, warm and calm, just love it!
What was the most difficult bureaucratic procedure that you been through so far in Bulgaria
No doubt the most difficult bureaucratic experience I had here it was the residence permit process, even though my husband was very aware about the documents we had to present and the steps we had to follow it was a stressful situation to cope with given the fact that Bulgaria had not longer an embassy in Chile so we came in Bulgaria having 3 months ( my tourist visa) deadline to sort out everything, we had to travel to Greece 2 times for this purpose but it is a nice thing to remember anyway.
Mention one important experience you´ve had in Bulgaria
I`ve had many important experiences so far: I got here a second university degree , being able to work as a teacher and to be that much valued and loved by my students . When I got my first teaching job after being here just for a year and I was so happy and eager to start to work again that I stepped in the classroom of a 2nd grade with very little knowledge of the Bulgarian language ( believe I’m laughing remembering this) and as you can expect kids at that age tend to quarrel and fight a lot, so they´d come to me accusing one another and I was seriously staring at them NOT UNDERSTANDING A WORD of what was the problem about and I had previously memorized the sentences : “THIS IS NOT CORRECT!” or “ PLEASE , DON´T FIGHT!” but actually I never understood what happened!
What languages do you speak other than your mother tongue?
My mother language is Spanish and I speak also English, Portuguese and Bulgarian
What countries have you been to?
I worked for 6 years as a cruise staff in entertainment, and of course I had the privilege of visiting so many countries , South America ( Argentina, Brazil and Colombia and Venezuela) The Caribbean and its marvelous islands. Europe and part of Africa also .
How is your business going?
I am recently teaching Spanish also as a second foreign language and I’m impressed about the great interest teenagers have for it!
What piece of advice would you give to other people who would like to come to live in Bulgaria?
I would advise everyone to come with a fully open mind as a result you will find a calm country to live in with a wonderful nature and culinary tradition and culture. It may depend from your family background and your own interest how hard it would be to adapt but it is worthy to give it a try!
Thank you very much Carola, for taking the time and sharing your interesting experience with all the expat community in Bulgaria.
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