It is with mixed feelings that I now have to leave my first week in Montevideo behind and move on to my first real stay in the department 'Paysandu.' Today we met our 'hosts,' the people we will be working with and who will be mentoring us at our schools, and learned some more about the Uruguayan education system. It was a stressful and overwhelming experience... I think we all felt the anxiety and pressure of finally meeting these people, knowing that we are more or less in their hands for the next three months. We were given lots of information, and for the first time we really ended up doing all of our interaction in spanish, which added another dimension of stress to it. Luckily they all seem incredibly nice, caring, compassionate, and very enthusiastic people, who are truly grateful to have us there and who understand how awesome a program Fulbright is.
I have to say I have been very impressed with Fulbright so far. They have really taken care of us, sometimes maybe more than was even necessary. This week was full of cultural and educational experiences, as well as just really stimulating and dynamic conversation; it was so nice to really get my brain going again and to be surrounded by interesting, engaging people.
Because of that, it is sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I have high hopes for what is to come. Knowing that this 3 month experience is so short motivates me to make the most of it, and knowing we will have the support of our hosts makes things easier. Tomorrow we will have a 3-4 hour bus ride to the new city (accompanied by a few of our hosts, too, just because 'it is nicer to travel with people'!), and we will be staying in a hotel until sometime next week. Elizabeth and I will be searching for places to live in these next few days, and we will begin observing classes at our two schools. I am in an elementary school and a teacher's training college. Luckily we aren't there so much to teach grammar or any of the boring stuff, but to teach culture and to get the kids involved in various enriching projects. It sounds like we will really be able to have fun with the kids and will be an exciting and motivating presence for them, and I am looking forward to working with little kids again. What with my ears not being accustomed to the accent and my mouth still not being accustomed to speaking spanish frequently, I think being with the kids, who I don't feel are judging me like adults do, will be a breath of fresh air. As for the teacher's college, I am told we will probably be the first people from the U.S. (and first native English speakers) that most people in the interior will meet, so our being there is something of a novelty.
As for the coming weeks, we will have a visit by one of the professors we met this week, when she comes through Paysandu with her family. We will also have 'Beer Week' over Easter break in our city, which is apparently a huge destination for Uruguayans. It sounds like a pretty exciting festival with lots of music and fairs, etc, should be fun. We also plan to visit the other ETAs (English Teaching Assistants) in their department, Salto (link: check out the NYTimes article!) where we will definitely have to take a dip or two in the famous 'hot springs'/'thermal baths' there.
More news to come... stay posted!
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