Canta, La Vida Es Una Fiesta!

I can't believe I let so much time go by without writing. Since my last post I have visited Canada for one week, then travelled to Spain for one month to lead a Spanish language program for teens, and since then I have come back to Montevideo, started a new job and helped pull off a successful event where 300 people attended! Wow! A lot has gone done in four months!

Right now, I am excited to celebrate my birthday this week, and I am simultaneously wondering if by turning 31 the title of my blog needs an edit!? I am also excited for my first visit to Buenos Aires this coming weekend! Happy Birthday To Me! And I am planning a one year anniversary party for the beginning of September to mark my one year living in Uruguay! Also coming up in September is a visit from a good girlfriend for two weeks. I'm super excited to show her the city, have girl time, and have some T.O. vibes here with me!

So as you can see, there is a lot to be thankful for and lots to celebrate! As the popular (only in Uruguay) song by VI-EM says "Canta, la vida es una fiesta" and that has been my anthem since June!  

Okay, so more details and updates...since I haven't written in so long! The visit to Canada was energizing, it was SO NICE to see family and friends. I got my fill of hugs, ate almost all of my favourite and most missed foods and even found time to be productive, aka: a dentist visit. Although the trip was a whirlwind and I could have spent more time with everyone I saw, I left with an overflowing heart. 

A tanned and happy staff in Marbella!

Everything in between that trip and leaving for Spain is a blur. It was only a couple of weeks and I was a mad person trying to wrap up work in Montevideo and getting myself and my team ready for the trip. The actual time leading the trip flew by as well. A lot of people wonder what this job I do with teens and touring every summer is like...it’s hard to describe. It is the best job, truly,  it is a mixture of utter exhaustion and adrenaline. We had an amazing group of teens this year.  They were a kind, smart, and hilarious group of young people. We also had a wicked staff team that had so much fun being together we would exhaust ourselves and stay up too late just so we could keep laughing and hanging out! Spain also meant eating delicious foods. I indulged in cortados multiple times a day and gelato nearly everyday. Thank goodness we walk a lot on these trips! I also got to see my good friend Ari and she got to tell me in person that she is expecting! Que felicidad! Lastly, my love of Spain never dwindles and one day I simply won’t get on the plane to leave. (Curious about what being a Westcoast Connection Trip Director for 50 teens is really like? Watch this video!)

Our first ever LAE Fair/Feria in Montevideo! Go team celeste!

After indulging in the VIP lounge at the Barcelona airport and sitting beside a handsome Uruguayan stranger for my 12 hour return flight, I arrived back to Montevideo in time for the last week of July. I was excited to get back to work, see my students, catch up with friends and get back to regular life. I was especially excited to start a new job as a student advisor for study abroad programs! Currently, I am continuing to teach with Plan Ceibal (the remote teaching program through the government) and in the afternoons I am working with Latino Australia Education (LAE) and helping students figure out how to study abroad. My first few weeks back I jumped right into planning an educational fair here, which turned out to be a huge success. I still have a lot of learning to do, but this new job is already expanding my professional vocabulary, and plus, I always love a new challenge!   

 

I think that's all. My heart's still wild and free, which proves to be good and bad at times. I am still in the same apartment, but will definitely need to be in a new place before the end of the year, since they want to sell this place. And as happy as I am here, I'm still counting my rewards points for a potential visit 'home'!?

Promise to write sooner!

Besos!

Travel and Friendship

When you're 'away' people constantly ask you what you miss from home. Well, I don't miss things or places, I miss people (and food, but that's for another blog post). April marks my eighth month in Uruguay. It doesn't feel like eight months at all, it actually feels like a lot less. I was blessed in March to have my Mom visiting for a whole month! If anything can ward off homesickness while you're abroad, it's a visit from your Mommy. Plus, I recently confirmed that I get to go home quickly in June to visit family and friends in Toronto. I'm so excited for hugs and time with loved ones! 

When I think about my quick visit in June, a big part of that excitement comes from being able to see my friends! I've been especially thinking about them lately, the amazing people I get to call friends, how important those relationships are, and the positive energy and support that we give each other, even from thousands of miles away! 

Jennifer and I make each other laugh with breathy voice recordings,
as we hustle through our days in Toronto and Montevideo!  

Since I moved to Uruguay I've had so much BIG and good news flooding in from my friends back home. I've had two really close girlfriends also move abroad, one to Belgium and the other to Tanzania. We all studied development and graduated in 2007, so it’s a beautifully fulfilled plan for us to all be living abroad right now. It's just like we had imagined in our 20's! I have another friend that went back to school at 28 and is just about to graduate from his four year degree program and start his dream career in urban planning. Another close girlfriend recently told me she is expecting baby number two this summer. And another good girlfriend just took the plunge and moved into a brand new duplex near her work. Plus, I have two girlfriends planning to visit me here in 2015, could there be a better thing to look forward to!? And those are just a few examples! 

They say that when you go abroad and then come home you'll find things haven't changed much. I would have to disagree this time around. When I was in Toronto a large portion of my friends were single, we had been career focused for years, without homes or children, we were holding out for the 'next step', but maybe not entirely sure what that was. Now,  I see my friends making big moves, big decisions, and I am really excited for them! I feel surrounded by intelligent, strong minded, and determined people that I am lucky to call friends. Despite the distance, they support and inspire me consistently. 

Simply put, I've been feeling really happy for my friends lately. It makes me happy to see them living out their dreams and loving their decisions. I miss them like crazy and the distance only reminds me of how irreplaceable they are. The hour long skype sessions, random facebook messages, real mail, and whats app voice recordings, all help to maintain the connection, but I know the connection would still be there with or without those things. These are friendships where you could be anywhere in the world and you will always be important to each other and you will always support each other. It doesn't get more real than that!

To be fair, you meet a lot of very cool people when you're travelling and Uruguay has been no exception. I am constantly making new friends and getting to know new people. They support me in other ways, we explore together, we look out for each other, we help with bouts of loneliness or heartbreak. I think this blog post may need a Travel and Friendship Part Two, dedicated to the relationships you build while abroad as they are also unique.

Veneise made her home my home as I transitioned out of Toronto!
#forevergrateful

To my friends at home and in other parts of the world, I love and miss you guys and will always be grateful for how you listened and encouraged me in the year leading up to my moving abroad. If I had different friends, I may not have made it here. I was a crazy person with big dreams for most of 2014 and you put up with me and all of my worries. Who are we kidding, I am generally always crazy about something and you always put up with me! That’s love! 

See you in June amigos!