When Life Hands You Lemons…

Where the heck have I been these past few months? There I was posting regularly every Sunday and then nothing for 3 months. 3 Months!

The short answer to that question is Chile.

The long answer is, well, really long.

A few years ago, my husband and I entered into the career of teaching English overseas. We spent 2 stressful and fulfilling years on Korea, but had felt it was time to move on. We came across an ad for a school owned by another Ohioan in Concepcion, Chile and thought it would be a perfect fit. We don't speak Spanish, but we had a working knowledge of the language and we hadn't had that much trouble in Korea without speaking the language. Besides, we were working for another Ohioan. What kind of communication problem could we have.

While working at the school, were I was the librarian, I ran across the quote "the illusion of language is that it is complete." I wish I knew who said it because it sort of summed up the experience.

Chile was until fairly recently a dictatorship. The government has changed, but the society moves a little slower. Our school was run like a dictatorship. We could never talk to the dictator/business manager because while she spoke English, she wouldn't. We were subject to random supply shortages and whisper campaigns. I spent about a month trying to get shelves. It was the library. I had 400 boxes of donated books to short and no shelf space. And yet, I couldn't get shelves. I also "heard" that the seniors through I was insulting and rude. A teacher was fired while I was there because of this. Another teacher quit in hysterics. Then our telephone was turned off by the business manager. This was one of her regular tactics to push someone out. When you're that far away you really need to get in touch with family and since we had no internet at home due to another decision of the business manager's it was out only link.

It was a horrible thing to live through, but I learned a lot from it. Living in a dictatorship is an experience unlike anything else. It's so insidious, you don't know what's happening until you're neck deep in trouble. At least if you're not used to the system. The Chilean people are wonderful and I wouldn't hesitate to visit, and eat until I burst, but I wouldn't want to work there.

I also got a lot of work done. Not having many distractions gave me no excuses and nothing else to do. Now, I'm out and about again and I hope to have my life back again soon. Until then, wish me luck.