A number of people have reached out to me that I have not written my blog in awhile. I looked up the stages of culture shock. There are four stages. The first is the honeymoon or initial euphoria. This is when I was like “Yes, I will write a blog every week about all of the quaint, cultural differences between Ipswich and Lo Barnechea,” This was before we went to Regina for a week and everything was so convenient, affordable, and familiar. One week of family barbeques, Costco runs, and real coffee will do that to you. We took long bike trips that did not require steep mountainous inclines and jaunts to Marshalls for plush kitchen mats. We stayed at the Hotel Saskatchewan and had a date night at the Diplomat- Thanks, Uncle Jimmie and Aunt Tamara. Now, I just want to have a Costco where I can find gluten free, date- coconut balls and pepperoni sticks. I want to be able to take a shower and run the kitchen sink at the same time. I want to turn on the stove without having to light it. I want to have a dryer because soft clothes feel better. I want to be able to pay my bills without spending an hour cursing Scotiabank and Keypass on my phone. I want to wake up when it is light and go to bed when it is dark. I want to be able to know if we are saving any money here at all.
So, the second phase is the negotiation or irritation stage. Yes, I am a bit frustrated. After we came back from Regina our nanny quit. The Monday that she was supposed to start working she did not show. In order to end her contract, I had to go to the notary where she fought to be paid for the week that she did not work; plus, she wanted her healthcare and retirement deposit for the month- a requirement that I thought came out of her paycheck not in addition to her salary. She claimed that our contract said that she was paid for holidays. So, though clearly she had no intention of coming to work on Monday, she waited to quit until after a week’s vacation. I should have suspected as much when she returned my keys to me the day before the vacation and had been complaining that she need more hours or a higher wage after talking to the neighborhood nannies. And the notary sided with her. In post Pinochet Chile, there are a lot of protections for the little guy. But often I feel like I am the little guy in this very wealthy country and should be the one protected. In this instance, I persisted and only had to pay for the week she did not work, a small victory, but still…
So yes, the honeymoon is over. This may be tied to the fact that our relocation costs of $10,000 American dollars and Rich’s peso salary for the first three months was accidentally deposited in another teacher’s account. It is three weeks after this discovery, and we have the relocation costs but not the missing salary funds. And Movistar, our internet and phone company, shut off one of our cell phones because of a language misunderstanding; I could not access my contacts on Whatsapp, Uber account, or Google Maps. At home, the buffering of our internet makes it almost impossible to use our Amazon Firestick; I guess there is no finding out how psychotic Meryl Streep is in the second season of Big Little Lies. Also, every Sunday, we have to turn off every internet accessing device so Max can watch the Patriots on our NFL package without any buffering. We cannot upgrade to the faster internet provider because the last tenant did not close his account before leaving the country. Apparently, he needs to do this. Somehow it feels like we are living in a third world country, and everyone around us has figured out how to live here in a first world country.
So, after reaching out to our HR that we need more assistance, there does seem to be progress. Apparently, there is a Chilean expression “El que no llora, no mama,” which means that a baby that does not cry does not get fed. So after speaking up, I am now receiving babysitting contacts and offers of a helper to assist me at Movistar. HR set up a meeting for me at Scotiabank where the only English speaking associate sincerely told me she wants to be my friend. She also proceeded to help me find a realtor, automate my bills, and access some neighborhood deals. Now I can imagine a time when we will get to the gradual understanding/ adjustment stage. Now I can access the app PagoClick that will get me a discount at Copec on gas. I know how to redeem my credit card points, so I feel less hoodwinked all of the time. Now I know that on Mondays if you pay with cash, you can get a 20% percent discount at Jumbo, a grocery store with foreign products. On Tuesdays, Hollywood Sushi has a two for one deal. Also, the massage parlor down the street gives Nido teachers a 5% discount. I will never again be shocked again when airport customs informs us that to take the kids out of Chile we need to have a copy of our appostilled marriage license, both of the kids’ actual birth certificates, their resident or RUT cards, and passports because the Chilean government wants to protect children from child trafficking. Now, I know that Chilean wine and car detailing are the major deals to purchase here.
We are a long way from the adaptation or bi-culturalism stage, but that is okay. Tonight some neighborhood kids came over because their toy drone flew over into our yard. One of them noticed a guitar and asked who plays. When Rich said he did, she said, “Play for me. I love music.” Twenty minutes later there was singing, guitar and ukulele playing, hot chocolate chip cookie out of the oven eating, and laughter. I am writing this as Mia and her new friend, Veda are curled in sleeping bags upstairs in their pillow fort. Max missed dinner with our family tonight because we wanted to give him more time with his pals outside on the plaza playing soccer. Tomorrow, we may go for a hike in the foothills of the Andes, and we are meeting friends at a farm for lunch. Max will watch some football. We will buy some food at the outdoor feria, and I will be sure to pick the peppers myself so I do not get those soft ones they always try to slide past me. I will pay back the fish vendor the 1000 pesos that I was short last weekend.
There will be ups and downs this week. Rich already knows that he is going to have deal with the laser cutter that he busted this weekend. Overall, we are figuring it out. Though I missed the cyber Monday week sales last week, I have a new nanny starting tomorrow. This one agreed to be paid by the day- no health care costs, no free holidays. I am feeling a little George Bush when he said, “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” Well, it is likely I will get fooled again. But, we will also do some amazing family bonding sight seeing, and learning along the way.
Living in Chile 