My precious

Coming to live in Chile, you have to release your grip on a few of the things that Australians love, although I imagine not nearly so much as in some other Latin American countries, where you may have to let go entirely. Some of these things I normally care about, others I don't, but none of the differences have bothered me so far.  These are the sort of things I'm thinking of: hygiene, safety, healthiness, productivity, efficiency, ordered thinking, planning ahead. Of course Chile has all these things but they are not cherished and assumed in the same way they are in Australia. Some of these things I never cared about very much and I actually feel much more at home with the go-with-the-flow optimism/fatalism and spontaneity of life here. I'd like to imagine I'll keep on cruising through life here, but the test will really come once I'm trying to get things done...