An interview with our volunteer Charlotte from Denmark

Our volunteer Charlotte Braas, speaks a little bit about her time as a volunteer in Buenos Aires. Originally from Denmark, she came to Argentina to volunteer for five weeks in the soup kitchen project, where she describes her challenges of integrating to a culture vastly different from her own. She speaks about her struggles with the Spanish language, as well as highlights the importance of having initiative in her project, despite the challenges she faced day to day.

Your project was in the soup kitchen, so what did you do before you were a volunteer?

“I have been working for the last year, before that I finished university I did three years where I studied physical education and Spanish. I finished that but decided that I wanted to do something else because I was supposed to be a high school teacher. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, so that’s why I decided to do some volunteer work.” So you studied Spanish in school? “Yes, I studied for three years in high school and one year in university.” Was it easier or harder, the initial process of integrating when you first came here? “It was quite hard because the things you learn at school are mostly grammar and the history, and I realized that I can read Spanish much better than I can understand it verbally, because we don’t talk as much at school, I only had one subject that was actually speaking Spanish, and it wasn’t even mandatory it was voluntary if we wanted to do it, so you don’t speak as much Spanish as you do reading and learning to write with correct grammar and things like that. So that made it more difficult because I thought my Spanish was good because I was good at reading it, but it’s a different experience hearing it, and hearing the locals talking and not just a teacher who knows they have to talk slowly and pronounce their words clearly.” What were your initial expectations, being that you have never been to South America, what were your preliminary view on this part of the world?

“I had the same views, sort of, as I do of Southern Europe in that it´s a much more open society, but I didn´t have too many expectations because I wanted to have an open mind because I thought, well you´re going to be there for four weeks, so I didn´t want to come with any prior opinions. I thought the first week was very difficult, not just at my project but trying to figure out where things were and trying to catch on to the pace of the city. Its such a different mentality here; I went to the introductory meeting with Jimena and she told me, well I have to take a bus, so I asked is there a bus schedule? And she said no, there is no such thing, the buses just kind of go and you need to be there. Which is very different for me because in Denmark, all the buses run on a schedule,  they´re always on time, and if there is ever a demonstration in the street here they just close down like 5 blocks and the bus goes another way and you're like where do I go now? You just have to get used to a different kind of structure.”

Do you think your experience in the soup kitchen helped you integrate a little better as well as help your Spanish?

“Yes, I would definitely say so, especially because they were very open to me, extremely nice, and a lot of them invited me back to their homes to eat with them or invited me to do things with them after my hours at the community center. Some people tried to talk to me in English, and one day I actually sat down and tried to teach a few people who wanted to learn the Danish alphabet that has letters that don’t exist in English or Spanish, like “Ø”. I think even though I thought my Spanish would get a lot better, which it has but not as much as I hoped, but I think it’s because I had the idea that I was better than I really was. Like I can sit down and read a paper and understand all of it, but when someone is talking it´s so much different. If they speak slowly and address me, I can understand, but when two native speakers are having a conversation I pick up very little.” So since you have integrated between two cultures, what kind of tips do you think you would have for anyone else who is going to start such a completely new experience?

“I would say the big thing is to be open minded, to have the mentality that i'm here, I want to do something, I want to help, and just do it. Because its so easy to just sit around and wait for someone to tell you what to do, but if you try and take initiative for yourself, they'll appreciate it more and they'll make you a bigger part of it. I learned that throughout the first week, because the first few days just sat there, but I took initiative and they appreciated it and made them understand that I wanted to be there, not just because I wanted the experience but because I wanted to do something and wanted to be a part of their project.”

What are you going to do when you go back?

“I really don’t know yet, but I'll probably start a whole different education after this summer. I just think that you learn a lot about yourself when you go far away from home, and so far away from your own culture. You learn a lot about them, but you learn more about yourself.”