At 4:00 p.m. that same day my husband received a phone call, which he promptly passed on to me. It was Mr. D. Apparently one of the three people who received my e-mail had forwarded it to him, and he was not particularly happy.
He told me that he felt my mentioning him by name was an attack on his character, which I of course assured him was not my intention. And then, once he had made clear how he felt about that, he simply said: Come to my office tomorrow and I will fix your problem.
Voilá.
What is it they say, it's all who you know? Apparently Chile is no exception. Pedro and I arrived bright and early to Mr. D's office this morning, and after one more brief airing of his feelings about the e-mail he sat down and wrote a simple letter. Once that was completed he glanced through the photocopies of my children's carnets (identity cards), stopping to question us about Owen's skin tone. One moment of levity, as he was obviously impressed with our cute son! He then stood, picked up his copy of my e-mail, slowly and deliberately tore it into pieces and said: Now we can put this to bed. (For the record, that was Pedro's favorite part of the meeting. He thought it was absolutely classic!)
The letter was then passed on to Mr. A for typing and we were told to follow him to his office. When I stepped gingerly inside (because I had the distinct sense that everyone in the building knew who I was and what I had done) Mr. A said something along the lines of, "You're walking so cautiously. Don't worry; the scare is over now!" which broke the ice and made us all chuckle.
A quick typing and signing and a few minutes later, we left the building with a letter for each of children's schools. The letter authorized "permanent matriculation" for our children without reservations. The director of the girls' school rejoiced to receive it, while the director of Owen's pre-school informed me that she is going to drop my name the next time she goes to the Ministry of Education since she herself has been repeatedly unsuccessful at seeing Mr. D! In the end, everyone agreed that unfortunately in Chile this is the way it has to be done: pushing your way to the top and being "cara dura" (hard nosed) when the situation demands it.
He told me that he felt my mentioning him by name was an attack on his character, which I of course assured him was not my intention. And then, once he had made clear how he felt about that, he simply said: Come to my office tomorrow and I will fix your problem.
Voilá.
What is it they say, it's all who you know? Apparently Chile is no exception. Pedro and I arrived bright and early to Mr. D's office this morning, and after one more brief airing of his feelings about the e-mail he sat down and wrote a simple letter. Once that was completed he glanced through the photocopies of my children's carnets (identity cards), stopping to question us about Owen's skin tone. One moment of levity, as he was obviously impressed with our cute son! He then stood, picked up his copy of my e-mail, slowly and deliberately tore it into pieces and said: Now we can put this to bed. (For the record, that was Pedro's favorite part of the meeting. He thought it was absolutely classic!)
The letter was then passed on to Mr. A for typing and we were told to follow him to his office. When I stepped gingerly inside (because I had the distinct sense that everyone in the building knew who I was and what I had done) Mr. A said something along the lines of, "You're walking so cautiously. Don't worry; the scare is over now!" which broke the ice and made us all chuckle.
A quick typing and signing and a few minutes later, we left the building with a letter for each of children's schools. The letter authorized "permanent matriculation" for our children without reservations. The director of the girls' school rejoiced to receive it, while the director of Owen's pre-school informed me that she is going to drop my name the next time she goes to the Ministry of Education since she herself has been repeatedly unsuccessful at seeing Mr. D! In the end, everyone agreed that unfortunately in Chile this is the way it has to be done: pushing your way to the top and being "cara dura" (hard nosed) when the situation demands it.
And while I am thankful that we can finally put this chapter of our ever-exciting life behind me, I am tired. Exhausted, really. Here's hoping that the resolution of this tramite is a foretaste to the resolution of them all!
3 comments:
oh steph that was a great story! especially the "classic" part! i can just picture that in my mind! congratulations on finally getting it done!
Oh Steph - I can't tell you how many times I rolled my eyes while reading your posts!!!! Congrats to you on a job well done=)
Steph- 1, Tramites - 0
WOW! What a story! So glad it had a happy ending! God honored and directed you, Steph, and gave you His strength and endurance. I was exhausted with you just from reading. Sweetheart, you are a fantastic author. Love, your subjective Mom (smiling)
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