Friends Make the World Smaller

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Geo: -34.8939, -56.1568

The thing about studying in a host country is you meet so many go-to people.

Like dear Nella who gladdens my heart and really should have been my sister, we're so alike.

And darling, sparkly Andrea, who livens any room she enters. And Alejandra, the crazy sister who's the practical joker. I wish we'd been able to spend more time with her. She's a kick. And that's just the Uruguayans.

At school the first week we forged friendships with this core group--we all started out together so we all had about the same degree of nervousness and trepidation about it all, but everyone dropped out at different times and it was kind of weird.

We would just get to know someone and they'd just fade away and someone else would start up, but never with the same feeling of family we built with our beginning group. We just clicked.

There was this couple, Jack & Barbara who we've talked about before. Well as we were walking home from the Hemingway restaurant Barbara and I had a chance to visit. She started telling me about an experience they'd had on this poorest of poor Carribbean island and I was so touched I'm going to try to tell it here and if they're reading this, hopefully they can fill in where I've gotten it wrong.

They volunteered, but in a very unique way. The charity Jack had contributed to for 25 years worked with children, and Jack and Barbara decided they wanted to volunteer with them in some way, but this group didn't do volunteers and had no system set up for them. Well these two don't give up, and eventually the charity asked them (knowing Jack was into photography) to go to this island (dang--can't remember which one) and teach photography to the children there.

They did so much more than teach. They bought computers, printers, cameras--everything they'd need for the program, all on their own--hauled it down there and set up a little photography school for the children of the village.

These kids were so poor they were destined for the gangs and worse, but giving them an outlet seemed to awaken something inside them. To hear Barbara tell it, they totally lost their heart to these poor, humble people. Some of their students really got into it and found that the camera could pull them out of the ghetto and into a productive life.

A year or so after they had returned to Maryland, they got a phone call from the agency they'd voluneered with asking if they'd sponsor one of their former students on a trip to the United Nations. This young boy who had been heading for the street gangs had instead found purpose in the eye of a camera and was coming to speak to the United Nations on their conference, Overcoming Poverty in the Caribbean.

Jack & Barbara, if you're reading this, please fill in your story for me. I'm just writing what of it I can remember because I was so touched by your experiences there. And Barbara, you told it so much better than I can.

But then there's Nicole, the German who lives in Ireland and is in Uruguay learning Spanish before taking holiday in Argentina. Both she and her husband work in the computer industry and for some glad reason, she has scored a three month vacation.

What to do? What to do? Let's learn another language! I love her accent--it's adorable. A mixture of german sentence structure and Irish lilt that is absolutely enchanting, as is she.

And we can't forget Bob's favorite, Ryan the ranger from Yosemite. He's a biologist and botanist for the U.S. Park Service. Ryan's from Fargo, North Dakota and to his credit, a fanatic Cub fan. If the Cubs make it to the World Series he vows to quit his job if necessary to go to the game. Gotta love a guy with his priorities straight.

And the other Ryan, and Jenny, newcomers our last week, who have moved here from Bozeman! to live in Uruguay and work his computer software business from here. Less than a million people in Montana and four of us here in this classroom in Montevideo.

Jim's been a fun one to get to know, too. Jim builds houses in Minneapolis and is here trying to learn Spanish so he can understand his laborers. Jim's an everybody's friend kind of guy. When you meet him you like him; it's just that simple. He, Ryan the ranger & Bob were in the same class until they both left and Bob spent the last week in one-on-one classes with Fernanda, the instructor.

I'm her favorite, he grins. I'm the smartest one in the class! And on other days it's, I'm the dumbest one in the whole class! he moans.

Fernanda's English is very bad, so she made a deal with Bob. He writes her emails in Spanish and she will reply in English. Maybe Bob will learn how to send emails this way, who knows.

But there's also the boys from Brazil (is that the Spanish spelling or the English? I'm all confudido) who are cute enough to be on billboards and who can't wait to get back to a real city (Montevideo's only a million or so--much too small when you're from Sao Paulo).

And the girls from Victoria, BC, who cut out two days early to start their two month trip through Bolivia and Peru; and blond Jennifer who got her Masters from the University of Chicago in Social Work and has lived in 9 different cities in the last 4 years.

And Vicky, who I talked about before--born in India, speaks several languages including Urdu (Pakistan) and Swahili (Kenya). Oh! Another fun coincidence: Jenny from Bozeman also speaks Swahili--she was in the Peace Corps in Kenya for 2 years. Two of our 6 classmates spoke Swahili--how random is that?

Malou started this last week, too. She's Dutch and speaks...I don't know how many languages. The Dutch speak them all. She's had a job I would be interested in. She worked for Doctors Without Borders, but now teaches Dutch to immigrants and loves it. She's an amazing woman and I wish we'd had more time together with her too.

But there's many, many more. They're all fastinating. When Ryan had his 37th birthday last week we sang Happy Birthday to him in Spanish, English, French, German, Dutch and Italian. It was so impromptu. One version would end and someone else would start in with another language and whoever knew it would pipe in--it really made us feel like we're part of a world community.

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Photos

Nella, my Uruguayan Sister
Nella and I hit it off like we'd been sharing secrets for years. And she didn't let me get away with sloppy Spanish either. She nailed me every time. We had great times together and I was so sad to leave her. She wanted to come with us--wouldn't that have been a blast?

Jack with his Nikon D5000
Another weird coincidence. We have the exact same camera.

Ryan & Jenny from Bozeman
This is the couple who have moved to Uruguay to set up their computer business.

Mateo, Grandpa Bob's Newest Grandson
Mateo loved having us there. Andrea said he dreamed about us at night and thought Bob was his grandpa. He was the sweetest kid.

Andrea and Bob
It's out of focus, I KNOW, groan, groan, but it shows the best smiles.

Dinner at the Hemmingway
Classmates became friends in such a short time. Vicky (seated), Jack (LtoR), Barbara, me & Bob.