Camaraderie: a spoonful of sugar in Rivera and Minas

9/3/2024

(from left to right): Ryan, me, Denisha, and August in Rivera's International Plaza at the Brazilian border

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Disclaimer
This blog, this post, and all related accounts are not an official Department of State publication, and the views and information presented are the Grantee’s and do not represent the Fulbright Program, ECA, the Post, Fulbright Commission, or the host country’s government or institutions.

Let’s rewind to August 3rd: the first day of the English immersion camp in Minas, Llaveja. My Fulbright compañeros and I just departed from a three-day intensively cathartic seminar in Montevideo. For those three days, we shared a long table and even longer discussions with other Fulbright ETAs from Perú, Panamá, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.

(For a more detailed recount of this seminar, check out a recent blog post from Chelsea Ramsey: a Fulbright ETA in Perú!).

Minas English Immersion Camp

With caffeine-charged fascination, we leaned into our serendipitously mashed-up community of expats. We poured our hearts into a humid conference room. We opened our minds and perspectives to the different realities of being a Fulbrighter. We learned from each others’ stories, presentations, and lived wisdom. The humble brilliance and curious compassion that emitted from each Fulbrighter was blinding. They live their truths unapologetically while gracefully embodying humanity’s best qualities. It was a shame our shared time was so short.

Needless to say, the ten-day split between the seminar and the English immersion camp felt like running a marathon without training. After completing the first half, we were already worn out. We had only one day to rest and nourish our throbbing heads. When we stepped back on the course, all we could do was keep our heads up, take one step at a time, and hope we made it to the finish line in one piece.

When spirits are low, camaraderie is the spoonful of sugar that eases the journey. Our hodge-podge group of ETAs is a mix of characters straight out of The Breakfast Club. We often joke with one another that we are unlikely friends — thrown together in a country smaller than the state of Washington. We come from different states, different educational backgrounds, and different cultures. Some of us are from Washington D.C., others from Chicago and Minnesota. We studied law, international relations, neuroscience, writing, speech-language pathology, and teaching. We have worked as waiters, baristas, tutors, substitute teachers, and graduate students.

Each of us carries a unique personality. Jack’s vintage collection of cheerfully patterned button-up shirts and windbreakers is envious. I admire his New York carefree bluntness and courage. August’s effortless charisma is mixed with expert procrastination like the complex flavor profile of a fine wine. Brody’s boisterous passion for fun and talent for freestyle rapping warmed my heart. He is relentless in his pursuits, and his khaki-pant pockets are constantly overflowing with compliments. Sam is a quiet jokester who comes to life around people he loves. His true colors are a vibrant rainbow, and his smile is a sight to behold. Sam always carries his journal in hand to intercept mundane and extraordinary moments in its pages. Jacqueline is one of the most vivacious, dynamic people I know. It is hard to stop her; she is always moving, clicking her heels on the uneven sidewalks. Her bubbly laugh commands a room. Denisha’s strength and spirit are unbreakable. She is a natural and wise leader, teacher, intellectual, and comedian that I am always eager to listen to. And finally, my girl Ryan is a glittering model of optimism and friendship. Her fierce compassion and untouchable joy radiate to everyone around her.

Despite our differences, my compañeros and I share a love for the important things in life: Ted Lasso, churros, a good joke, travel, and high-quality hotel breakfasts. We are an unlikely team, yes, but that is one of our strengths. There is always something to learn from them, whether that is how to live my truth or how to cook eggs in an air fryer.

Ryan presenting her outdoors club at the simulated Activities Fair

In Minas, we banded together, stronger and more tired than ever. The two days of back-to-back small-group meetings and physical challenges were the second part of the marathon. When I looked around the chilly dining hall, I observed my compañeros — my teammates — doing their best to keep their heads and spirits high. I followed their example, refusing to disappoint them or myself.

Quickly after we arrived at camp, we were introduced to a small group of new teammates: students from UTEC, Uruguay’s technical university. On the first day, my group of six students created a team name, the UTEQUITOS, which would be used through the different physical challenges. Brody, a co-founder of a Virginia summer camp, Camp Sarraka, served as one of the camp’s fearless co-leaders and organizers. He adeptly led these challenges and encouraged each small group to build camaraderie behind our team name.

Through the challenges, the UTEC students aimed to build an understanding of the U.S. college experience. We played “capture the flag,” or more accurately put, “capture the vocabulary-words-and-assemble-them-into-coherent-phrases.” We designed mascots for UTEC. (Ryan’s team went above and beyond, designing raccoon eye masks out of construction paper as an accompaniment for their mascot, Mark the Raccoon.) We participated in a simulated activity fair, where each Fulbright ETA presented on a club in which we participated in college. On the second day, we each created a proposal on how to integrate U.S. college culture into a fictitious transformation of UTEC.

My oh my, I am so proud of the UTEQUITOS. My students showed up both days with can-do attitudes and endless creative ideas. Once again, camaraderie proved to be the spoonful of sugar to ease the second part of the marathon. Their teamwork was inspiring: they ensured no member was left behind in translation or understanding. Every UTEQUITO mattered.

I will never forget the communal bonfire under the starry winter sky. Its warmth tingled our cold fingers as we managed to pass around Brazilian marshmallows and roasting sticks. The familiar shrill trills of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” and heart-wrenching pulse of “Hola Perdida,” an Uruguayan anthem, accompanied the crackling of the fire. Existing in a community amongst compañeros, old and new, provided a relaxing conclusion to a day of competition.

Rivera conference

Walking on Rivera's main street full of duty-free shops

I left for Rivera at midnight on August 16th. After over eight hours of on-and-off sleep in contorted positions later, August and I arrived in the Brazilian border city. We wasted no time in hailing a taxi to our final destination. After traversing hilly alleyways, we arrived at the CERP campus: the host of the 11th annual Rivera seminar.

The crammed schedule of this intensive seminar was reminiscent of the Minas camp and Fulbright seminar at the end of July. The itinerary divided the two days into 45-minute presentation blocks with a “fifteen-minute” coffee break and a lunch break. The organizers maximized the designated 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. window. There was no doubt about that!

On the first day of the seminar, my compañeros and I listened to dense presentations revolving around inclusion in Spanish and English classrooms. I frequently shifted in my chair in the packed conference room. To me, the material was not novel or revolutionary, but there were bits and pieces I listened closely to. I will always learn something from Aldo Rodriguez and Andrea Joyce: two of the first presenters.

By lunchtime, I was ready for a break and a satisfying meal. My compañeros and I followed Jack and Jacqueline — our “local” guides (they lived in Rivera for their first placement) — towards a lunch spot. Rivera is known for its duty-free shops; xis (pronounced like “cheese) Uruguayan cheeseburgers with ham, egg, peas, and corn; and Portuñol, a hybrid of Spanish and Portuguese. The collective relief of creating space from the CERP campus was visible on our tired faces. We anxiously settled on the bumpy bus.

After departing the bus, we trekked through several blocks of duty-free shops displaying perfumes, shoes, and big discounts. The International Plaza was a welcome break from the back-to-back shops. The Uruguayan and Brazilian flags flapped energetically in the wind, ushering us to cross the open border to our lunch destination. (I was surprised when the cashier initiated a conversation in Portuguese. I did not realize we crossed into Brazil!)

We decided to skip a few afternoon presentations to explore Rivera’s main street and attraction: the duty-free shops. I was proud to purchase a bar of Toblerone for $2.50 and a couple other commodities to enjoy in Maldonado. It was entertaining to observe my compañeros stock up on discounted goods, such as dairy-free dulce de leche and an air fryer. Yes, an air fryer.

I mustered my leftover energy to attend the last presentation of the day. My memory of the rest of the evening is foggy, but I vividly recall a scrumptious empanada dinner at one of Jacqueline’s favorite restaurants, La Tuna. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Then, we had to do it all over again.

Andrea Joyce reading The Mitten aloud to a small group of teachers

The second day began the same way the first one ended: with good food. Sometimes, good food is the only reason I get up in the morning. If I start the day by restoring my energy through a spirit-simulating meal, such as fried eggs, then I know I will have at least one positive memory every day. On Saturday, the hyped-up hotel breakfast served encouragement on steaming trays of creamy scrambled eggs and bottomless coffee. I indulged myself as much as I could. Ryan and I wrapped up a couple of rolls in paper napkins for pick-me-up snacks.

In the hours before the lunch break, attendees chose from a list of presentations split between two rooms: the main conference room and a traditional university classroom. During this period, my compañeros and I presented on prepared topics across both rooms.

I know I am biased, but my fellow Fulbrighters’ presentations were my favorite presentations, hands down. Their unique personalities and backgrounds pour into engaging presentations that leave the listener laughing along to their jokes and shifting positions to listen closer. I am in awe of their creativity, command of the presentation stage, and charisma. When they take the podium, they immediately grab my attention — not only as friends but as informed professionals with something important to say. Unfortunately, due to the concurrent style of presentations, I was unable to attend several of their presentations. But I was on the edge of my seat for those I could.

I appreciated the intimacy of the universiy classroom I was assigned. The rows of desks and elongated table at the front of the room served as a comfortable setting for my condensed workshop. While some of my compañeros decided to craft new presentations for this conference, I stuck with the content I knew: children’s books.

The presentation went as well as I expected! As usual, I watched in curious admiration as the teachers explored physical children’s books and practiced reading aloud in their small groups. I wish they had more time to devote to the books and each other.

When the whole-group conference resumed, so did the traditional 45-minute block presentations. My compañeros’ captivating presentations on translanguaging, code-switching, gamification, and educational structures between the U.S. and Uruguay provided welcomed waves of stimulation in the exhaustive itinerary.

. . .

The seminar closed with a group dance routine. One of the CERP students strutted the conference-room aisle leading the audience in Chappel Roan’s “HOTTOGO” choreography. It was a memorable ending to an intense two-day conference. Until our overnight bus departed, my compañeros killed time playing cards in the hotel and sharing pizzas and burgers on red plastic chairs on the Rivera sidewalk. Without peas and corn, please!

I returned to Maldonado on Sunday morning. Before crashing on the living-room couch, I unpacked what I needed from my broken-in travel backpack. It remained splayed open on my bedroom floor until Wednesday evening, the start of my next trip to Rocha.

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