When in Gualeguay, Argentina...

I stand in front of the class and answer one question after another as students ask me close variations of what I have only recently heard from the previous class. Once we have finished the initial ice breakers such as “What are you doing here?” and “Do you like the city?” a student calls out from the back “What do you think about Obama?” Another bold voice asks, “Is your school like the movie ‘American Pie’?” They are dying to know. Having such strong and alluring images of the United States through Hollywood movies and television series, they now have their chance to learn what they have all been asking themselves; “Is it really like that?”

I am in Gualeguay, Argentina, a city with a population of approximately 50,000 inhabitants that is located three hours north of Buenos Aires in the province of Entre Rios. I am here on a Fulbright scholarship to represent the United States and to work as an English teaching assistant in public schools. I see very quickly how my presence in this small city is a powerful means of fulfilling the program’s mission: to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Immediately upon witnessing their mixed feelings and perceptions about the United States, I know that I have a big task.

After visiting over forty classrooms and being stopped repeatedly in the street and at almost every store I enter, I conclude that I have to appear on television. I go to the local television station prepared for their curious and perplexed expressions. With a big smile, I do my routine of explaining why I am in their city, making sure they know that I like it very much. Then I explain that by hosting my own cultural television show, I can reach many more people while doing something both different and interesting. They laugh when I say my program will be called “Mateando con Amanda”, which in English means having yerba mate with Amanda. Yerba mate is a traditional drink that they share. It is made in a gourd filled with the yerba that is meant to be sipped through a metal straw. They pour hot water over the yerba and it gets passed to everyone in the room. It represents the sharing of conversations, friendship, and intimacy. For many foreigners, it represents the sharing of germs more than anything else and it can take some time to get used to.

I cannot think of a better image than that of me, a foreigner, with a yerba mate gourd prominently displayed on my television set while talking about our cultures and opening up conversations. The comical nature of it is exactly what I am seeking. I want people to feel comfortable and to break down any walls and barriers that there may be between us. I bring in guests for interviews; I have new cultural topics each week; I film my students or even people that I meet in the street for themed videos; I speak both Spanish and English and subtitle everything.

Soon after I have started my program, the nature of the people’s commentary I receive changes. One day, while I am waiting in line at the supermarket the woman behind me asks, “Are you the young woman on television? Do you really like yerba mate?” She then continues to tell me proudly, “I loved listening to you talk in English and I also read all the subtitles in English.” On another day a student thanks me for the conversation I have with the president of the local Rotary club about international exchanges. He explains that he is excited to learn about opportunities to study and live in other countries.

I immerse myself further into their culture by dancing in their summer Carnaval. The last night of Carnaval after I finish the ninety-minute parade for the seventh time, the announcer of our dance group stops me. “Amanda,” he says, “When I heard you were going to dance, I thought no, she can’t, this is our thing, she won’t know how. I didn’t think you could. But every night you danced, you were great. You showed me that you accept us and that you can be one of us, and I never thought that could happen. I never thought that one of you could become one of us”.

I remember his words very clearly, his look of gratitude and admiration, and the reassurance it gave me that I had done what I had set out to do. It was like finding buried treasure, but first we had to uncover many layers, and, in this case, the layers were our differences in customs, languages, expressions, views, and backgrounds. What we found was that underneath, we were the same.

Stay tuned for Part 2 in our July newsletter.