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Peter embraced the opportunity to work in South America after a short stint as a quality control expert for a Dutch-based metals processor. A subsidiary of the company for which he worked outside Rotterdam was looking for a smart, take-charge individual to head up its inspection process at a plant in Chile. At first, Peter wasn’t interested until dome fellow workers convinced him it would be the adventure of a lifetime. Up till now, he had not experienced much adventure except for possibly that one vacation to the exotic Seychelles Islands. He did a little research about Chile, was impressed about the “newness” it presented in his life and decided to take a chance. Fortunately, his company offered adjustment seminars designed to prepare people like himself for living in a strange new country. Peter soon found out that although the native language of Chile was Spanish, the country was far from a duplicate of European Spain. His company offered a fast-paced five-week course in Spanish language skills plus orientation to the customs and cultures of the new home he would soon experience. Peter set up his new home in Talca, 145 miles south of Santiago, a growing, bustling industrial city where he soon gained a good reputation for being a smartly focused inspection expert. His reputation spread widely through his industry and his employers made arrangements for Peter to travel throughout South America offering to teach inspection techniques to other quality control personnel – even the company’s competitors. The ability to send Peter all around South America was partly due to his learning the Spanish language as well as he had.  Peter spent a great deal of his initial time in Talca employing a tutor to continue building on his language skills he had started during the company orientation courses he attended back in the Netherlands before arriving in Chile. As an ardent student, Peter employed his new found language skills in daily excursions out into the city where he practiced speaking with the locals in shops, restaurants and other public gathering spots. Upon his return to Holland, Peter actually became quite homesick for Talca, a common occurrence with many repatriates once back on their own native soil. However, Peter established such a good reputation for the quality control techniques he had developed and, coupled with his knowledge of both the Spanish language and keen interest in Hispanic culture, it wasn’t long before he had another offer to live and work in Paraguay.

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