Ok, this is another version of my blog for those in the world who are interested. Please ignore minor grammar mistakes 
Hi, I’m Kirstin and I’m about to start a year of voluntary work in Uruguay, Montevideo. Some may wonder, why I chose Uruguay? I didn’t! When I started thinking about doing a year abroad in a South or Latin American country to learn Spanish, I concentrated on countries like Honduras, Bolivia or Costa Rica. I was shocked and excited when I got the letter reading: Congratulations Kirstin, we found you a project in Uruguay. I just thought: Great! Where is Uruguay? Come on, does anyone know anything about this country? I am grateful for every piece of information I can get. I hardly found anything on the Internet and nothing at all in the book stores. There is not one travel guide about Uruguay to be found. There are guide books about South America but they all contain only four pages about Uruguay and what’s listed on those I was able to find already.
So, without any preparation I went to the seminar in Lierbach-Oppenau. Yes, you’re right to think think that sounds like it is in the middle of nowhere. It was fun however. More than I thought it would be. And it was really interesting, too. It was nice to be in a place with so many people that look forward to do the same as you are about to do. All in all we were a little over 60 people. And I can tell you: It’s exhausting. We were all living in one house. Even though there were a lot of rooms the fact remained, that the nearest village was 3km away and you had to walk there. So we were pretty much stuck together. But it was fun and very interesting even though some of the fact scared me, it was good to be prepared.
But now I am here in Montevideo for almost a week now and it is totally different. Maybe some of the warnings will have to be remembered when I start working the Youth Centre. It’s going to be very interesting because I don’t know what I’ll have to do there yet. In addition, I don’t speak Spanish yet, at least, not a lot even though I understand some of it. And the kids, that visit the Youth Centers usually don’t go to school even though school is obligatory in Uruguay, therefor, they do not speak any English.
Today is Monday and on Saturday I arrived at my host families place. I live with Sabrina and Rodrigo in a flat in a very nice part of Montevideo. It is only 8 block away from the sea side.
There is a shopping mall in area and a grocery store in the area, too. The only bad thing is that it is so far away from the Centro and the work places. But that is nothing compared with what I have. Even though Sabrina is probably gone some time during the year I am very certain I am going to have a great time. Probably even better when I start to speak Spanish.
Ok, now I have been here for almost two months and I am having a good time. Sometimes it’s a little rough not understanding the people. I regret not taking language classes at home. It would have been a lot easier.
