Small fish, big sea

About a month ago I started my new job. I am in my 14th year working in mining and really enjoy what I do. I have a great job and the opportunity to live and work in a country as fascinating and challenging as Peru is the experience of a lifetime. Of course, it's not just a matter of packing up one office, moving into a new one and hitting the ground running (although it would be great if it was).

 

We are the first ex-pat married couple to be working at our company's mining operation here in Peru. Usually just the husbands go to work at the mine and the wives stay home, either with the kids or on their own, to spend their days however they will. As far as Peruvian culture goes, the wives almost always stay at home to care for their children until they leave home (if they leave; it's not uncommon for multiple generations of a family to all live together in the same house). If they have young children, it is very rare for mothers to work, and certainly not full-time, and certainly not in mining. So what I am doing is not normal. Here's an example: recently I interviewed a number of different women to work in our home to help us with cleaning, cooking and looking after our son while we work (yes, a maid). There was always an interpreter at the interviews, as my Spanish isn't fluent yet and none of the women whom I interviewed spoke any English. When I explained to each of these women that I needed a maid full-time (as in all day, every week day) because I work full-time as a mine engineer, they all expressed the same look of total amazement, that a woman with a young child would contemplate such a thing. At one interview, the woman who was coordinating the interview on behalf of the maid agency was completely shocked to know that I was working at a mine. She had never met an ex-pat wife who worked before.

 

The people whom I work with are really friendly and seem to go out of their way to make me feel welcome. I look forward to going to work and being with them. At the same time, there are some times when I feel a bit alienated and wish that I was just a little bit less "different". I don't dress the same as most of the other women who work at the mine (most of whom work in administrative roles and tend to wear more "fashionable" clothes than the standard mining wear which is jeans/long pants and a polo/button-down shirt, which is what I wear to work), so I look different. Obviously I'm not a man, so I am clearly different in that regard than most of my work colleagues (there are two other female engineers in my department, so I'm certainly not the only one). And I am definitely different than all the other ex-pat wives, as I am at work when they are in town, catching up over coffee or visiting the market together. I'm grateful that they include me in their invitations to do these things, but it can be hard having to say "Thanks for inviting me but I'm working that day" over and over again.

I am grateful to have this job and as I said I really enjoy the work that I'm doing. I'm blessed to have stayed employed for this long and to have been given this opportunity. I guess my point is that it doesn't come without some sacrifices and challenges. One of the challenges is to embrace being "different" and to see it as a strength instead of something to regret.