Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Punta del Este and the Rotary Conference for District 4980
This last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Punta del Este for the second time. Punta del Este is a very touristy, developed area. It is a peninsula with miles of gorgeous beaches. You can stroll along the rambla and enjoy the calmness of the River Plata, or walk along the side of the Atlantic and listen while the waves crash against the rocky and sandy shores.
The first time I was able to stay for free. By chance, I met a very nice Canadian who had a time share in Punta del Este and she did not want to enjoy it alone so she invited me. The pictures I’ve put up are a combination of both my trips to the Peninsula. The second trip was only for a weekend and there were not as many opportunities to photograph touristy areas as I was attending the Rotary conference. However, there were opportunities to photograph the Rotarians at work and enjoying themselves during the formal dinner. They really love to dance and I had such a fun time dancing along side them. One of the Rotarians even pulled me up on stage to dance with her!
The first time I was able to stay for free. By chance, I met a very nice Canadian who had a time share in Punta del Este and she did not want to enjoy it alone so she invited me. The pictures I’ve put up are a combination of both my trips to the Peninsula. The second trip was only for a weekend and there were not as many opportunities to photograph touristy areas as I was attending the Rotary conference. However, there were opportunities to photograph the Rotarians at work and enjoying themselves during the formal dinner. They really love to dance and I had such a fun time dancing along side them. One of the Rotarians even pulled me up on stage to dance with her!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Why Uruguay
One of the first questions I am often asked when I meet someone new here is, “why Uruguay”? Which then provokes me to ask, “why not”? I think the issue here is that we can forget how blessed we are to be born in a country of opportunity and sometimes it is difficult for others to understand why we would leave to come to their tiny corner of the world.
I’m not trying to be patriotic in this entry rather, I am trying to explain a perspective that is much easier to appreciate when you are living on the other side of the hemisphere. The United States doesn’t only have the allure of Hollywood, Starbucks and the Big Apple, it’s a place where if you don’t like your hourly job at McDonald’s you can work at Starbucks and they’ll even offer you an insurance plan. Here if you have a decent job but you don’t like it, tough luck, you keep it because you are happy you have it. I asked some Uruguayan friends what was the first thing they thought of when they hear the words United States, and their response was, “Money”.
So why would I leave a country of wealth and opportunity to come study in Uruguay? Of course without the Rotary foundation I may never have had the opportunity to be here but what I would like to do with this entry is answer the question of why Uruguay with a list of all that I love so far, (that way if anyone asks me I’ll just tell them to visit my page).
Mate
Carnaval (The Murgas, The Tambores etc)
The friendliness of the people
Greeting with cheek to cheek kisses
Sunday Asados
Saturday Tambore rehearsals that parade down the streets of the neighborhoods
Soccer games, especially the loyalty to teams and the enthusiasm of the fans
The 29th of every month you eat a special pasta called ñoquis
Tango—on weekend nights in certain plazas people of all ages (even 80 and beyond) gather to tango.
The Market of the Port in Ciudad Vieja where you can eat asado while you sip on the special wine that is half champagne, it’s called Medio y Medio
Going for a walk along the Rambla that lines the coast of Montevideo
Being able to walk or take the bus anywhere I need to go
The relatively relaxed life here, no one seems to be rushed and in a hurry.
Time with the family means you spend all day, not 2 hours or just a meal, you sit around enjoying eachother’s company while sipping mate or eating asado and you don’t worry about what needs to get done for the day.
This list could go on…
Food:
Dulce de leche
Alfajores
Faina
Asado
Chaja (famous desert named after a bird here)
The olives here are much better
Ñoquis
Biscoches
This list could go on too…
I’m not trying to be patriotic in this entry rather, I am trying to explain a perspective that is much easier to appreciate when you are living on the other side of the hemisphere. The United States doesn’t only have the allure of Hollywood, Starbucks and the Big Apple, it’s a place where if you don’t like your hourly job at McDonald’s you can work at Starbucks and they’ll even offer you an insurance plan. Here if you have a decent job but you don’t like it, tough luck, you keep it because you are happy you have it. I asked some Uruguayan friends what was the first thing they thought of when they hear the words United States, and their response was, “Money”.
So why would I leave a country of wealth and opportunity to come study in Uruguay? Of course without the Rotary foundation I may never have had the opportunity to be here but what I would like to do with this entry is answer the question of why Uruguay with a list of all that I love so far, (that way if anyone asks me I’ll just tell them to visit my page).
Mate
Carnaval (The Murgas, The Tambores etc)
The friendliness of the people
Greeting with cheek to cheek kisses
Sunday Asados
Saturday Tambore rehearsals that parade down the streets of the neighborhoods
Soccer games, especially the loyalty to teams and the enthusiasm of the fans
The 29th of every month you eat a special pasta called ñoquis
Tango—on weekend nights in certain plazas people of all ages (even 80 and beyond) gather to tango.
The Market of the Port in Ciudad Vieja where you can eat asado while you sip on the special wine that is half champagne, it’s called Medio y Medio
Going for a walk along the Rambla that lines the coast of Montevideo
Being able to walk or take the bus anywhere I need to go
The relatively relaxed life here, no one seems to be rushed and in a hurry.
Time with the family means you spend all day, not 2 hours or just a meal, you sit around enjoying eachother’s company while sipping mate or eating asado and you don’t worry about what needs to get done for the day.
This list could go on…
Food:
Dulce de leche
Alfajores
Faina
Asado
Chaja (famous desert named after a bird here)
The olives here are much better
Ñoquis
Biscoches
This list could go on too…
Friday, May 9, 2008
Acampar!
Last weekend I had the opportunity to join seven other members of my Rotaract club (Paso Molino) for the bi-district conference held in the department of Colonia, Uruguay. We all braved the cold for a weekend of planning, networking and of course, a bit of festivities!
The enthusiasm of my group brought back memories of my experiences at the USCC Rotaract convention two years ago with ASU’s club. And although it was quite cold sleeping in our cabins with the bats and the spiders, I enjoyed every minute of it!
Taking a moment to reflect on the experiences I had, it was especially interesting to see the differences between Rotaract of ASU and Uruguay. There are still the same goals, the same themes such as “service above self”, but in Uruguay they have the added obstacles of working within a third world country.
Those obstacles meet them at every turn, for example the session that I was a part of for the weekend was called “Public Relations” and its focus was how to use the limited resources available to put the word out about Rotaract. The Rotaract clubs of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay have decided that the word needs to get out about Rotaract, all the clubs have pledged that by 2010 the membership in each club will be no less than 15 members, more members means more Rotary in action—RotarACT. I remember when our ASU club was trying to come up with ways to advertise Rotaract and increase membership, everything seemed possible to accomplish. Here however, if you want to hand out flyers, host a concert or anything else, it costs money and they don’t have the money to spare. It becomes a major obstacle, and it is something they want to overcome because more Rotaracters means more Action!
The enthusiasm of my group brought back memories of my experiences at the USCC Rotaract convention two years ago with ASU’s club. And although it was quite cold sleeping in our cabins with the bats and the spiders, I enjoyed every minute of it!
Taking a moment to reflect on the experiences I had, it was especially interesting to see the differences between Rotaract of ASU and Uruguay. There are still the same goals, the same themes such as “service above self”, but in Uruguay they have the added obstacles of working within a third world country.
Those obstacles meet them at every turn, for example the session that I was a part of for the weekend was called “Public Relations” and its focus was how to use the limited resources available to put the word out about Rotaract. The Rotaract clubs of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay have decided that the word needs to get out about Rotaract, all the clubs have pledged that by 2010 the membership in each club will be no less than 15 members, more members means more Rotary in action—RotarACT. I remember when our ASU club was trying to come up with ways to advertise Rotaract and increase membership, everything seemed possible to accomplish. Here however, if you want to hand out flyers, host a concert or anything else, it costs money and they don’t have the money to spare. It becomes a major obstacle, and it is something they want to overcome because more Rotaracters means more Action!
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