The sea of Santiago

Winter has fallen upon us in Santiago, which basically means freezing mornings and evenings, and 75 degree days. It has been rather confusing for the body, and thus it tends to leave everyone contracting every possible sickness there is. Halls cough drops are sold at every goodies stand (which are each located about 100 feet apart) and masks are starting to be sold at the entrance of each metro stop. I think I have made cough drops the new staple of my diet, as I pop a new one every 10 minutes to give my throat some sort of relief.

Santiago wore me down this week. In addition to contracting each kind of cold there is, I had quite an up and down experience this week.

It started at the end of last week when my friend Pancho called me to inform me that he knew someone who was looking for an English and Spanish speaker to come work for him. Pancho rents out offices in his office building, and a small events planning company was looking for someone to come work with them. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I went to meet with a man named Pablo who owns the small company. We talked for awhile, and I learned about him and what he does for his business. I also learned what he was looking for and where I could fit in. Pablo informed me that he was looking for someone who has a good knowledge of the Spanish language and who has fluency in English to work side by side with him and his employees to prepare for corporate events. The company, called GrupoDos, puts on events for various large corporations (Toyota, Avery Dennison, Bristol-Meyers Squibb etc) in which they have people from all around the world meeting in once place for various conferences and events. I would be the link to those guests who are not from the Spanish speaking world in order to offer them information and answers before and during each event.

After a few meetings with Pablo, I decided to throw caution to the wind and take the job. This meant that I would have to quit my other job of being an English professor....darn. Although English teaching has taught me a lot, I knew I couldn't let this opportunity slip through my fingers. After all, I came to this country to learn Spanish and learn how this part of the world works.

I went into my current office on Wednesday afternoon and broke the news to my Chilean boss, Tatiana. Bad move. Although I knew it was unprofessional to quit with only 5 days notice, I had to make the decision based on what would be best for me. Tatiana was not happy, to say the least. In fact, she threatened to take me to court and make me pay for the classes that my students may have to miss due to their lack of substitute teachers. "What if I had Swine Flu?" I asked her, hoping to clear up some honest curiosity of how they would approach that situation. "That's different". Needless to say, I didn't delve into the court issue too much due to my lack of Law vocabulary in Spanish, but I knew I had to figure something out since she appeared pretty serious. Luckily, my next English class right after my meeting with Tatiana was with a group of Chilean lawyers. I decided to be unprofessional yet again and take advantage of free legal advice, although it was against the company they are paying to teach them English. Each and every lawyer told me that she had no right to take me to court, that she would expend more money doing so, and they all offered me their personal information in case I got into anything too sticky with her. That immediately made me feel better, so I went on with the fact that I was quitting come Monday.

On top of the stress of Mrs. Chilean Boss, I had started my new job that day during the hours in which I was not in class. My computer had broken two days prior, so I had no connection to the world (or so it felt) and I was battling the common Chilean cold which was knocking at everybody's door.

All in all, after a few stressful and confusing days, things have worked out so far. My computer was fixed, my old boss backed off, my new job has proven to be interesting, and my sinuses have started to clear.

I learned a lot this week about many things. The one that I recognized the most was the immediate attention of my Chilean (and Gringo) friends and students to help me through any trouble I was in. In each of these difficult situations, I had either a student or a friend making connections and figuring out a way to make my life a little easier. I had people calling computer stores to find me the lowest prices, I had men at the market offering me advice for the common cold, and I had many people making contact with their friends who are lawyers in light of my boss trying to scare a little foreign girl into staying at work. With every stumbling step I took I felt so much support from everyone around me. After this week, I have finally realized that I have become so planted in this country that I already have friends who would be willing to do almost anything to help me out of confusing (and sometimes legal) situations.

As the week comes to a close, I am feeling rather tired but not defeated. I can now say I have a new job with a Chilean company (www.grupodos.cl), my computer is up and running again (for a lot less than I thought it would be), and I am finally taking a breath of relief.

Also, I just made some beet, zucchini, carrot, and pumpkin soup, so I'm feeling pretty good and fairly culinary. A good soup can always make anyone feel better.

I'll fill you in soon on my new position in this company and how it treats me. Pablo said I'll even be getting my own card to give out to people. Sweeeeeet. I don't know if I'm more excited about the card or about the actual job. I'll keep you posted.

I miss you all quite a bit.
Keep the hugs flowing
Send some my way
Eat some soup.

much much much love.