The time has finally arrived. I am in the final part of my Fulbright Teacher for Global Classroom fellowship, the international field experience. As I write this post, we have successfully completed our first day here in Uruguay’s capital city!
My flight journey from Columbus, Ohio to Montevideo, Uruguay took almost 22 hours. I had a layover in Dallas, Texas and then Sao Paulo, Brazil. Interestingly, it felt short. I don’t know why. I think I was just too excited for my trip. First of all, I have never been to Brazil or Uruguay before. Now, Montevideo, Uruguay holds the distinction of being the southernmost place on Earth that I have visited. I believe that’s why this trip is more exciting in different way than other trips I took before. I even showed my son where I am on the map, and he said, “Dad, you are so close to Antarctica!” Indeed, I am. It feels different to the southern hemisphere of the planet. It’s winter here whereas the northern hemisphere is experiencing summer time.
Most of us gathered in Sao Paulo for our flight to Montevideo. The aerial view of Sao Paulo was gorgeous, and I wanted to stay awake to see more, but I eventually fell asleep. The last thing I remember is the flight captain announcing that we would be ascending to Montevideo in 30 minutes. However, even in that short time, I managed to see the hillsides of Montevideo from above.
Once we landed, our bus driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel, Cala Di Volpe Boutique Hotel. This four-star hotel is located at the center of the city by the beach and has beautiful beachside houses, buildings and parks.
We had lunch at the hotel’s restaurant while our host, Martina, checked us in to save us some time. I’m glad she did because I was so hungry. I didn’t eat any food that was served on the plane. I just don’t like food that’s been served on a plane. It hurts my stomach. Because of that, I usually pack something to eat when I’m traveling, but I guess this time it wasn’t enough.
After lunch, we went to our rooms, settled in, and headed straight to the hotel conference room for our first sessions.
The first session was about Safety and Security, presented by the US Embassy, followed by Welcome Packets and Program Overview, and then Cultural Awareness.
There was a lot of great information shared during the sessions, but I wanted to share a couple of important points here. Uruguay is a relatively safe country compared to other countries in Latin America. The majority of crimes are related to robberies and carjackings. The members of the U.S embassy shared our contact information just in case we had any emergency. I was impressed by how well everything was very well thought out. I was also so impressed by how our embassies work well in other countries. I have also seen this when I visited the U.S. embassy in the Kingdom of Bahrain as an educator during my other professional development study back in 2018.
During our second session, Cultural Awareness, we learned about high-context and low-context cultures and how they behave in different situations. I have to admit that this was one of the best professional development sessions that I have ever had in my education career. During the session, I had so many clicks in my mind that I understood the meaning of so many things in my personal and professional life. I have learned that in low-context cultures such as those in North America, Scandinavia, and Germany, communication tends to be more direct and to the point. Whereas in high-context cultures like those in Japan, China, and Arab countries, they have more indirect communication. The main point is conveyed through various social clues so that the person who is being communicated can grasp it. In low-context cultures, people tend to be more individual-centric and value personal space, while high-context cultures focus on community and social context. In high-context cultures, the community and social bonds are at the center, and they are closely knit together.
In the case of Uruguayan culture, it falls into the category of high-context culture. The people here are “relaxed.” I don’t want to use the word “relaxed” because it gives me a negative impression, but in reality, they are living life to the fullest with their loved ones and nature. I have observed this mindset in countries in the Middle East, Europe, and in other Latin America as well. If you ask me which context I want to be, I tend to be more in high context culture.
I’d like to share a pattern that I have noticed in high-context cultures. Since being part of the community is important, there are more gatherings and social events. It is like there is always an excuse to have a gathering. The time spent on meals is longer, and the dishes are elegant. Since they value mealtime, the meals become an art. Restaurants compete to make the best food, and the food becomes healthier because they know that the best meals come from the best ingredients. Even the clothes they wear become elegant. Why? Because they are always out with people, they tend to dress well. When this becomes a habit, they have a variety of clothes. As there is a high demand for clothes, companies produce high-quality garments. I have noticed this trend in food and clothing in every country with a high-context culture. During our short break before dinner, we visited a mall, just a couple blocks away from our hotel and saw this in action, as well as in the dinner we had tonight.
Our first night dinner was at Uruguay Natural which was phenomenal. Even though I couldn’t eat the BBQ meat due to my Halal diet, I can tell it was delicious just by looking at it. They had many types of meat cuttings and sausages.
I hope I can find a place that serves halal meat so that I won’t leave this country without trying its famous BBQ, Asado. Wish me luck!
Expeditionary Learning 