Mrs. Silvana Moscoso: "I don’t think that I would like to be anyone else, no."

Mrs. Moscoso spreading the joy of books! (photo by Stephanie Vidovic)

Mrs. Silvana Moscoso is our new SCCS librarian coming from Santa Cruz International School. As a manner of welcoming her to SCCS we decided to sit down with her on a Monday afternoon at her office to ask her a few questions about herself, her past, and most importantly her new job at SCCS. By the end of the interview we had learned so much about Mrs. Moscoso that we felt like we had known her for years. We are extremely pleased to have learned so much about Mrs. Moscoso and her fascinating life.

How would you describe yourself?

"I am very eclectic. I’m different, yes, because there are no two that are the same. I try to follow and to do what I believe. If I ask something of anyone, my partner, my friends, my kids, or my students, I try to be a model. At the same time even though I think that I am very organized, I think there are things that are very important. Being respectful, being true to who you are and whom you believe you are more than anything, but respecting other people is the basis for everything. That’s what I ask from people and that’s what I try to give, as well."

Do you have any hobbies? What are they?

"I love to be at home. I love music, electronic music. The type of life that I have now doesn’t allow me a lot of free time, with four kids its kind of hard. I would like to be able to go out more and be in places where I can listen to music but usually that is super late and I have a small child. Hobbies would be cooking. I love to cook, I think that would’ve been my other choice of profession."

What made you want to become what you are and why?

"I don’t think I meant to become what I am [laughs], it was not intentional at first. The why I’ll tell you once I explain a little bit how this happened. I went as an exchange student to United States on my last school year. This was kind of a problem because I was graduating that year and I left in the middle of the year, so I wasn’t graduating with my class. When I came back, obviously my class had graduated already and I had to make for the tests and everything. I graduated out of classes and on the time that I had left I started doing some stuff around. I had a friend who graduated from this school and she used to be the library assistant while she was waiting to go study. She was leaving and she asked me to take her place while I was I was waiting to go study to Argentina. She said I would make some money, help the librarian and still practice my English. I agreed and that’s how everything started really because I came for a matter of months and I ended up staying 10 years. I got married, didn’t go to Argentina obviously, go study what I was planning. I had my first son and that’s when I started taking Education courses and went to university."

Why did you want to become part of the SCCS staff?

"Because I think there are things that I can offer to the children and to the middle and high school students. If I can give them a little bit of what I believe and help them feel and be better."

What do you like best about your job?

"To see the kids’ faces. I can’t even describe it. The look you receive after you have helped them in a way to experience something special, there is no money that can reward that. When I read stories to my little ones, they are just looking at me. They are in such a trans that when I look at their faces, it’s all that matters. It makes my day."

Tell us something unusual about yourself.

"I don’t think at this point there is anything that is unusual. Everything is so possible that it is not unusual anymore. Maybe, my tattoos are something that no one expects [laughs]. Besides that, I think I have a very young soul. Even for me now, it is very difficult to match the age I have with how I feel. It has always been like that."

Do you have any tattoos? What are they and what is the meaning behind them?

"I do, I have three! I have one on my left hip. That one was the first one and it is a black rose. All the tattoos I have contain some meaning. It’s not esthetic or it’s not meant to be pretty. Obviously, I look for it to be nice. The black rose means part of my life that was dark, but still beautiful in a way. Then, I went through a very hard process of self-evaluation, changing, and re-making of myself. This is when I did my butterfly tattoo, which is on the back of my neck, which means transforming. The last one I actually had it made like one or two months ago, it is a phoenix. It is on my lower back. A phoenix is a bird that comes alive from its own ashes. This to me symbolizes that when you change some part of you goes but some part of you comes back. You we’re not expecting so many tattoos! [laughs]''

Do you have an embarrassing story?

"I probably do, but I probably block them so I don’t remember [laughs]."

Who is the person you most admire, why?

"I think I would say Gandhi. He was able to transform and still is able to transform the way people want to achieve goals without harming anyone. Without yelling, without screaming, without being violent. I think that’s amazing."

What is your philosophy on life?

"Follow your dreams. It sounds very cliché, but it’s exactly what I believe. Not what you think you want, but what you truly want. There is something there that tells you what is right and what you want. Sometimes you try to make it rational and give sense and you change it because it’s not exactly what people are expecting. So, you leave that part of you that is true to who you want to be, aside. But if you follow that, it will never lead you to something bad. If you have a passion for making shoes, go ahead! Follow it! Everything you do based on that passion would come out perfect. Be true to yourself, I think my philosophy would be."

Do you find any difficulties with your job and what are they?

"Yes. I think that is part of the experience that I had probably on my destiny [laughs]. It is true; I am having a hard time with the high school, which I never had before. The last thing I wanted was to become a sergeant, but that’s what I am becoming become I wont let loose of what I believe is right. My job is to provide the people who use the library with a space where they can read, study, work in an English speaking school. I need people to follow those rules. What I feel is that I am being the bad guy because I’m asking the rules to be followed and I’m not going to let go. It is so hard to go every 5 minutes and say ‘’please speak English, please be quiet.’’ They look at you in a way that you can read their minds. But, that’s my job. I don’t want that relationship with the high school. That’s the right thing to do and I’m not going to change that just to please and to be nice. Tough Luck, for both because I suffer [laughs]."

If you could go back, would you change your life in any way?

"No. I am the result of the things that maybe at the moment were not right. So, no. I’m happy."

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

"I see myself working from home. Probably doing some of the stuff that I do know, but not as a full-time job. Then again, just as I say that, when I’m at home I miss this [job] too much. So, I don’t know. My dream is to work and live far away."

If you could be anyone else, who would you be?

"I don’t think that I would like to be anyone else, no."

--Stephanie Vidovic