Previous installations of Desde el Monte...
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There are so many interesting facets to Uruguayan culture. I did not learn them all and I do not remember much of what I learned, but let me share a few memories with you.
We were blessed that one of the missionaries living and working with the church in Montevideo, Dan Coker, used to be a professor of Cultural Anthropology before he became a missionary. Our group would begin our day at the church building with a lesson in Uruguayan culture. Dan had put together folders (I still have it but cannot find mine) full of information for us. He taught us things that were culturally interesting and also things that would keep us from getting into sticky situations out in public. For instance, we learned to greet people by kissing them on both cheeks (very European). This took some of the guys in our group by surprise, but they adjusted quickly. I also learned that silently communicating with someone across a big group was going to get harder because the hand sign for "okay" and the "thumbs up" were not acceptable gestures in this society. That means we all smiled and nodded quite a bit.
