TESTIMONY from Jordan, Long Term volunteer in Uruguay

Jordan giving english courses

“With Autumn came a return to Montevideo and the beginning of volunteering. This mostly consists of teaching English at a specialist language school, which with my limited knowledge of Spanish was un poco dificil, but has been helped by the friendly and welcoming attitude of all the students.”

The diet of chivitos (burgers stacked with everything the mind can think of) and empanadas (meat filled pastries) might feel like heaven at first..

I have been in Uruguay for 6 weeks, nearly a quarter of the way through my EVS placement. We arrived at the tail-end of summer, just in time for a week long national holiday that we spent travelling along Uruguay's beautiful Atlantic coast. Living with Uruguayan's in a beach house, going out at three in the morning for Carnaval, relaxing in small surfing villages, sharing mate: it was a great way to be introduced to the tranquilo culture here.

With Autumn came a return to Montevideo and the beginning of volunteering. This mostly consists of teaching English at a specialist language school, which with my limited knowledge of Spanish was un poco dificil, but has been helped by the friendly and welcoming attitude of all the students. I mostly teach through songs, journalism and stories that interest me, so lessons are almost always good. We are also starting a new project, Abriendo Puertas, to give disadvantaged children from certain barrios the chance to learn English, which should be a nice mix of challenging and rewarding.

Montevideo is an eclectic mix of the beautiful and the run-down, an old world Europe and an infringing America. There is an exciting cultural scene, cafes from a different era, the long walk on las ramblas that covers the city's coast with el Rio de la Plata. Its not the city I expected, but it has character and charm that slowly wins you over. It took little time to become integrated, spending nights at several Uruguayan's homes and cooking an assado, a beastly South American barbecue, on the Sunday just gone. I have been to the Estadio Centenario to see the famous Nacional play, where flares and fire mix with an electric ambience, to several art installations that take over whole houses, to see Uruguay's national orchestra play in Parque Rodo, to Buenos Aires for a long weekend.

Uruguay is still relaxing in the warm weather and seems to refuse to really start up until after Easter, so we will see what a (hopefully) sunny winter brings.

Jordan, volunteer in Uruguay.

Project part of BREAKING BARRIERS
BUILDING PARTNERSHIP
and supported by EACEA

and the Youth in Action Programme

of the European Commission.

For more information about BREAKING BARRIERS BUILDING PARTNERSHIP, visit the special webapge in clicking here.