After living in his hometown for 26 years, Spanish teacher Alejandro Torres, who was born in Santiago, Chile, moved to the U.S. with his wife. He began his profession of teaching Spanish while also traveling to different places before he joined the CHS community.
Prior to arriving in the U.S., Torres attended La Universidad de Chile and received dual degrees in history, geography and education. Then, before leaving Chile, Torres met his wife, who came from the U.S., at his university. He first moved to Los Angeles with his wife before moving to Fairfax, Virginia. His wife was working in Chicago and got a promotion to be in charge of one of the small schools in Torrance, a city in California. Due to his wife’s job being located in L.A., he also got an opportunity to work in Berlitz Beverly Hills Center, a language learning center
“I thought it was an odd job,” Torres said. “Later, I realized that you have the opportunity to meet really famous people.”
Similarly, they moved to Fairfax because both of them had a promotion and, at the time, no kids so they decided to explore the east coast. Torres then became a Spanish instructor, having the chance to teach well-known celebrities such as Ryan Gosling.
“You have to be professional,” Torres said. “You can’t just say ‘Hey, you’re famous.’ or you will scare them away. You treat them with respect.”
Besides focusing on work, he also makes sure to spend time doing what interests him. For years, traveling has been a hobby for Torres and apart from being in the USA and his home country, he has been to many different countries.
“I’ve been to Spain, Italy, Costa Rica, Panama, Belize, Canada and Argentina,” Torres said. “People here in [the U.S.] should try to take advantage of traveling because it’s easier. I mean, Chile is really far away.”
The U.S. and Chile have a distance of 5,241 miles when traveling in the air. Torres noticed a contrast between these two countries’ lifestyles and school systems.
“Everything is bigger [in the U.S.],” Torres said. “The streets, cars, everything is, in general, bigger. [Schools] have more resources and sports. Chile doesn’t have a central heater so it’s always cool. Chile’s [grading system] was seven, for some reason, seven is 100.”
It has been two years since Torres has visited Chile. He would usually message and video call his family to keep in touch with them.
“There are many things I miss [about Chile],” Torres said. “The weather in the area I was living in was very nice. Winter is not so cold but you have snow in the mountains and they look beautiful. [I also miss] my family and friends.”
