The Difference Between the Chilean and Slavic Cultures in Everyday Life

They differ a lot

If you think of two opposite things or characteristics of something, you will be approaching the description of the Chilean and Slavic cultures for comparison. And by Slavic, I mean mostly Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian, as these are the nationalities to which I belong (Ukrainian) and that I know very well (Russian, Belorussian).

There is no point in proving that some culture is bad or good, they are just very different. It goes without saying that the adaptation period for Slavic people to the Chilean idiosyncrasy can take some time. There are cases when people simply go back.

Personalities: the Pole and the Equator

Of course, it’s a hyperbolic comparison, but no so far from the truth.

In general, Chilean people are very open. They are what they call themselves “pensamiento hablado”, or thinking-talk. They literally tell you many things. Every time I take an Uber I finish my trip knowing a lot of the driver’s intimacies either about the family, children, wife, in-laws, and so on… Two drivers unscrupulously confessed about their drug addictions, five drivers very honestly shared their infidelity stories as the causes of their divorces.

The Slavic culture, on the other hand, is distant, tepid, cold, many times unfriendly. When I was dating my future husband he officially baptized me as “ice hummock”. He insists on that name till today, after four years of marriage and two kids. Maybe that is the reason why Russian-Chilean marriages work: opposites attract.

Remember about the Cleaning (and the shoes!)

This specific issue is very painful for me. I take it personally.

Chilean people have a way different notion of cleaning. Sometimes they even don’t have it.

In the first place, Chileans don’t take their shoes off when they enter the house (by a house I mean any dwelling). They arrive and just get in, indistinctly whether it was raining outside or they walked over mud, bubblegum, or a pile of garbage. Some of them afterward lay on the bed. There is no point in mentioning that they don’t change their clothes either. I have a friend whose husband gets inside the bed without taking off sportswear after jogging. Imagine the smell.

Additionally, I would like to explain two different concepts. There is the concept of something being clean, like a clean floor (without stains and dirt) or a clean surface (also without stains or dust), and the concept of tidiness, when, for example, there is no mess, any unsolicited stuff out of place or awry furniture. In Chile, people are worried (when they are) about tidiness and stuff organization, and they forget about cleanliness. A house can be fully organized, the living room in great order, however, the floor will be covered with a centenary layer of dust, and, under that dust, stains find their perpetual place. Normally, when the Chilean kitchens ignore the anti-grease cleaners, the cupboards become an eternal burial grave for spiders. This phenomenon scares away Russian women.

The Mighty Housekeeping Ladies

I take it as a technical issue. When the house is dirty and the children hungry, I hire the service of a housekeeping lady to clean and cook.

In the Chilean higher society it is a matter of house management and status. In other cases, it revolves around solely cleaning. The point is that Chile accepts and embraces such service whether you own a mansion or a modest apartment. Besides, the service is quite affordable, especially if you hire it for a pair of days a week.

Many Slavic people, most of all women, are reticent to this idea. They adopt the posture of a perfect, almighty wife. Some kind of pulp with several hands that can clean, wash, cook, garden, and watch the kids at the same time. The pride hampers their rest and develops mental health problems. These women usually give up after some exhausting period or give in to their partner’s call for common sense.

Oh, My Food!

The Chilean and Slavic cooking types are not a continent, but hopefully a universe apart one from another.

Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians tend to cook a lot of and very diversified food. The Russian salad, borsch, dumplings, kéfir preparations amaze with the variety of ingredients and may be adapted to every taste.

The Chilean food instead is made of premium ingredients, fresh products one can find on every corner. However the preparations themselves are very basic: a steak, a boiled potato or rice, a piece of lettuce, and the plate is set. I don’t stop wondering why these people can’t use a piece of imagination to bring colors to their salad, or a radish at the very least.

There is also the omnipresent “manjar” (dulce de leche, boiled condensed milk). Manjar is everywhere. Every single pastry shop has something with manjar. It may not have a cheesecake, but it will mandatory have manjar. It’s like the local obsession. Russians say “chocolate in chocolate” when something is excessively sweet, and for the Chileans, everything is manjar in manjar.

Moving forward, the next food subtopic is funnily exposed by Masha Lepskaya in her vlog about parties. I fully share and confirm this nonsense. When you are invited to a party in Chile, don’t expect to be given food. In the best-case scenario, you will find Cheetos and Lays. If you want to eat well, get yourself an invitation to a Russian party.

Saving Money

Savings, savings, and savings once again. Chilean people are extremely economical, saving every peso they can. This happens in part because the average salary doesn’t exceed the USD $700.

Individualistic behavior has also penetrated throughout this society. Each individual is on his/her own. A husband and wife can have a totally separate budget, even leaving their children on a short leash. No wonder everyone is saving. The TV is full of commercials offering 2x1 specials.

It is also painful to admit that people aren’t very lavish and generous with gifts for their partners. Expect to divide the bills in the restaurant.

To summarize a bit, despite all these differences that appear to broaden the breakup and misunderstanding between the cultures, in the long run, the cultures tend to have a pacific coliving.

The Chilean people are prone to accept, respect, and laugh at foreign whimsies.