Author: jcrowe01

(Would you like some mate tea?)

by Aberdeen, Tufts 1+4 Participant

Would you let a frazzled stranger into your house if they asked to use your electricity to charge their phone? Would you feel comfortable sharing tea with an unknown amount of others that used the same straw?  Would you invite a foreign stranger to a family cookout after only knowing them for about five minutes?  If you’re Brazilian, you may have answered yes to these questions without pause.  The generosity and pure interest in helping others that I’ve experienced in my travels of Brazil has been astonishing.  Others’ well-being and happiness are always put before one’s own interests.  It is true that Brazilians share everything.  Apples, blankets, cars, stories, surfboards, clothes, advice. Families that seemingly have so little to give, give so much.  Every day I am reminded of how kind people can be.  The people I meet are well aware they may never see me again, but they ask for nothing in return for their generosity.

I am welcomed with open arms everywhere I travel in Brazil and all I can hope is to bring this love with me wherever I go.  In light of recent global events, all I wish is for everyone to treat others the way I’ve been treated here.  In delving into a new culture, a new life, a new country, I’ve been stripped of any confidence, communication abilities, and way of life that I’ve built for the past eighteen years.  I was made vulnerable and forced to start over again. Thank goodness I was surrounded by Brazilians.

When asked to report on something important that I’ve encountered this bridge year, the pure kindness of the people I’ve met is what I choose to discuss.  It isn’t the difference in food.  It isn’t that one time a three foot long lizard casually emerged from the bushes behind me and flicked his tongue at me in distaste.  It isn’t a story of how two surfers saved me from a stray dog that targeted me as his prey.  It’s a human behavior that shouldn’t even be shocking to me.  I want to contribute to a world where it isn’t odd to see unfiltered love.  This is what I was looking for when I decided to take a year abroad before college.  I knew there were lessons to life that I needed to grapple with before even thinking about calculus.

For those reading in hopes of learning about what us 1+4 kids are up to this year, this is it.  I am learning how to live, not just exist.  I had visions of returning from this year with more “direction”, e.g., an answer to the looming question “What do I want to study at college?”, and I don’t think I’ll return with that question answered.  I’m now okay with unanswered questions.  Anyone who knew me well three months ago may not believe this, but it’s true.  These three months have changed me.  I can’t wait to see what I can do with eight.

by Daniela, Tufts 1+4 Participant

So long ago the pilgrims celebrated a successful harvest after their first year in a foreign country. Today, a similar celebration took place on Calle de Carmen Montoya. We celebrated an exchange of cultures after our first, nearly, three months in a foreign country. We had Thanksgiving!

When it comes to preparing Thanksgiving in Madrid, the first thing you do it head to Taste of America. This is a store that sells “American” goodies. We stocked up on canned pumpkin, cranberry sauce and marshmallows. My co-chef Madeline and I were confident in our cooking abilities, but taking on a whole turkey is a lot to ask of two eighteen year olds. We approached a whole chicken instead. With the help of Jaime Oliver, Food Network and our moms back home we made a pumpkin pie, an apple pie (gluten free), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, biscuits (gluten free), a whole chicken, turkey breast, gravy and whipped cream! The best part was the biscuits tasted like biscuits, the stuffing tasted like stuffing and the pumpkin pie tasted like pumpkin pie! We sat down to a table full of food and all six of the girls hated it!

They didn’t hate all of it, mostly the cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes. I am still not a huge fan of Thanksgiving food, and watching the young girls try cranberry sauce for the first time brought back so many memories. The girls were very vocal about their disdain for our “sabores fuertes.” Coincidentally, I just learned the word for picky last night: tiquismiquis. I casually slipped the word into the conversation, and it ended up offering an insight into the different aspects of cultural exchange. One of the girls remarked how we probably felt the same way about Spanish food, the educator of the home then pointed out that he couldn’t tell because we never expressed it. The conversation was light hearted and insightful, with plenty of detours for laughter.

Although 6/10 of the table were not enjoying their special dinner, the atmosphere of Thanksgiving was all around. There was love, laughter, conversation and of course gratitude. The most successful part of the night was sharing what we were each grateful for. Leyre was thankful to see her mom, Ana was thankful for lack of homework and abundance of good grades, Lucia was thankful for being on Earth, Eva was thankful for her sister, and both Carmen and Yaiza were thankful for their friends. Juan Carlos, the educator was thankful for his first Thanksgiving. As I said before I am not a Thanksgiving food fanatic, but today for the first time in my life I was thankful for Thanksgiving. I am thankful that when I return home I will remember how hard we all laughed at the table. I will remember the hours Madeline and I spent in the kitchen, and the joy we felt when our food was better than just edible. I will remember the six tiquismiquis who only wanted to try the pies. I will remember the joy in Juan Carlos’ face when he saw the table filled with foreign food. I will forever remember the first Thanksgiving in Montoya.

by Isabel, Tufts 1+4 Participant

I have been in Nicaragua exactly two months today and of the myriad of emotions, sounds, experiences, and images, these are five of the most prevalent.

By Steven, Tufts 1+4 Participant

Sometimes the best things are those that are wholly unexpected. For me, this doesn’t sit easy. I don’t even like the idea: as a child I would spend countless hours questing to discover the hidden treasures that were my Christmas and birthday presents. I would spelunk in the dark confines of my grandfather’s closet and take a visual inventory of everything in my garage, searching for the gems I knew were hidden there. Sometimes I would find success while most of the time, my plans were foiled. I would discover nothing because my grandfather got smarter, trickier perhaps. But, as he got smarter, so did I: my grandfather would certainly hide the present, but what about the receipt?

So, what does my questing for presents mean? It means that I love knowing and I’ll do almost anything to discover new things – to conquer the unexpected. There’s nothing wrong with expecting a few things or even knowing something. But, sometimes the rewards are so much better when things are completely unexpected.

In Brazil, learning to embrace the unexpected has provided me with some of the best experiences thus far. Never did I expect that I’d be working at a local university called IFSC (Institute Federal Santa Catarina) where I’ve had the opportunity to work in a biotechnology laboratory, to help teach English, and to expand Google maps to places that they haven’t ventured yet. Never did I expect to be living with my capoeira teacher and his family – a surefire way to improve my capoeira skills! Never did I expect that my new host brother would be progressive, open-minded, and excited to help me explore Brazil. Never did I expect to venture to the jeweled crown of pizza places: a rodizio pizzeria (imagine unlimited pizza with never imagined toppings that are magically brought around by servers). Never did I expect to be sitting at a batizado, an epic capoeira event I can’t yet properly put into words, typing this entry. I can’t wait to see what other unexpected experiences I will have.

Now, all of that being said, I’m still going to search tirelessly for these amazing experiences, for the Christmas and birthday presents, I request. However, I realize that along my journey I cannot and do not want to avoid the experiences that are wholly unexpected. Even though I can’t exactly be sure if I’ll check off the few things on my hypothetical wish list, I know I’ve already checked some things off that I didn’t know were on my list. It’s only been two months, but I know that I’m no longer the young man that hopped on a plane to the one and only Brazil. I’m changing not only from the experiences that I expected to change me but from those that were entirely unexpected as well!

By Daniela, Tufts 1+4 Participant

It has been nearly seven weeks since I arrived in Madrid, and I am just where I need to be. Madrid moves slowly, but there is not a moment that goes by that is not infused with energy. It is actually a bit confusing at times, because so much is happening but it happens during a long period of time. Madrid breathes slowly, but has a quick heartbeat

I have noticed a similarity in pace at my placement. At the Montoya house, the girls take their time with everything they do. Yet while we may be spending an hour on one activity, that hour is jam packed with little moments that are crucial. The service occurs in those little moments. Those little moments are what transcend the work from simply lending a hand to truly investing. Being at the house for a few hours everyday doesn’t provide much time for activities, but it provides a plethora of precious moments to learn from. It is also important to remember there is work that can be done outside of my time at my placement. For example, I have begun to write down the given circumstances of each girl in the home. Who they are, where they come from, and why they are part of the foundation. This has proven helpful in terms of approaching each girl individually.

Continue reading “Making the Most of Madrid”

By Madeline, Tufts 1+4 Participant

What does it mean to volunteer?

I recently found a second volunteer opportunity here in Madrid. The NGO where I’m working in the mornings is called Serve the City. It works as a match maker for big corporations and NGOs. Once Serve the City establishes a relationship between the two, there is a newfound responsibility given to both in order to develop a stronger community through service and collaboration. In the U.S. and Great Britain, this is implemented as CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility Policies. Here in Spain that is a foreign term. Serve the City is looking to change that.

Additionally, they work as a database of volunteers for NGOs and vice versa. The project I am currently working on is the Facebook page for an app called Velping. The app, that is currently being developed, is for volunteers to be able to log their hours of service and see what kind of social change they are initiating. They can receive feedback from the NGOs that they are helping too. My project is to find meaningful and intriguing content to feed through the Facebook to get people thinking about why they should volunteer in general.

For me, that is a great question. Why am I volunteering? Why did I decide to fly hundreds of miles away from home and live in a foreign country so I could spend a year of my time serving others? I’m lucky because in exchange for my 6-10 hours a day given to foundations – for incredible causes might I add – I get to live in a foreign country and experience Europe at a very young age. But then in addition, volunteering gives me so much more.

1. When you volunteer, you choose. You choose where, when, and how you will work keeping in mind the needs of your community and the organizations.

2. You gain experiences and memories. From business and marketing skills to child psychology to cooking skills, there are experiences in everything when it comes to volunteering. You gain skills, build a resume, and take home a piece of good and pure memory to hold onto.

3. No matter how big or small, you make a difference. A very interesting thing I was told when coming here was “this is a chance to see how much of yourself you can give without seeing an immediate impact.” This is hard. I feel it everyday that I struggle with my girls or my schedule is not perfectly ideal. But at the end of the day I’m happy because I know eventually I will make a difference.