Ernesto

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

Meus maiores interesses são os intercâmbios linguísticos e culturais. Estou tirando um ano sabático para aprender francês, italiano e português. Agora me concentro no português

Description

Olá a todos! Meu nome é Ernesto. Em março, comecei um ano sabático. Tem sido uma jornada incrível. Graças ao WorkAway e à WorldPackers, vivenciei algumas das melhores lembranças de minha vida. Quando comecei, minha principal meta era dedicar o ano inteiro para me tornar fluente em francês, mas meu nível aumentou muito rapidamente. É incrível a rapidez com que se aprende um idioma quando se faz uma imersão no país que fala o idioma que você está estudando. Percebi que poderia aprender mais de um idioma durante essa viagem. Estudei italiano por um tempo antes de sair do Canadá e depois vim para a Itália para tentar repetir o que fiz com o francês. Até agora, meu italiano tem melhorado a cada dia. Já consigo manter a maioria das conversas nesse idioma e sei que, quando for embora, meu italiano estará muito bom.

Meu próximo objetivo é aprender português. Já comecei a fazer cursos e a estudar por conta própria. Minha meta é ter uma boa base do idioma antes de ir para o Brasil em janeiro de 2024. Como falante nativo de espanhol, já consigo entender a maioria das coisas, mas a parte oral precisa de muito trabalho.

É claro que não quero perder o que aprendi em francês e italiano, portanto, gostaria de continuar falando esses idiomas sempre que possível. Portanto, estou procurando oportunidades de voluntariado no Brasil onde eu possa praticar os idiomas que estou aprendendo sempre que possível.

Espero aprender o português por meio de ótimas conversas, música, culinária e outras atividades culturais. Em troca, espero tornar a vida deles um pouco mais fácil, ajudando meus anfitriões no que eles precisarem. A próxima parte desta descrição contém mais detalhes sobre mim, mas deixarei esta parte em inglês.

I grew up in Mexico and moved to the United States when I went to college. The idea of ​​becoming bilingual has always excited me. I put a lot of effort into learning the language quickly and improving my pronunciation to make it sound as natural as possible. When I graduated and got a job, I finally had enough money to start traveling. I always tried to go to countries with a different language. Before each trip, I studied the language for months to learn the basics so I could speak to locals. I have visited almost 30 countries on 4 continents and learned the basics of almost 20 different languages. Of course, I remember some better than others. This practice gave me the opportunity to interact with the people of each country, which opened the doors to incredible experiences that made each trip unforgettable. I find that when locals meet a tourist who is really trying to speak their language, the locals may want to share more about their life in that country, their culture, their opinions on universal issues, sometimes they will even offer to show places unknown to tourists. Ultimately, this is the greatest advantage of language; connect people.

When the pandemic hit, I had to completely stop any type of travel for almost two years. Like many of us, I lived alone, away from friends and family for what seemed like an eternity. However, being stuck at home has also given me a lot of time to think about what's really important to me. I realized that learning languages ​​was one of the things that made me happiest. That’s when I decided to start planning a year-long sabbatical.

There are many things that motivate me and make me happy, but one of the most important is learning languages. I have been interested in languages my whole life. It fascinates me to see how different people communicate in different parts of the world and the impact of language in culture.

If possible, I would like to be involved in a project where I could learn useful skills. I love learning new things and I get a lot of satisfaction from helping with big projects. I think working on something like this while speaking Portuguese would be an ideal situation for me.

Interests

Languages

Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
Portuguese: Beginner

More details about my language interests
O principal objetivo de minha viagem é aprender idiomas. Sou fluente em inglês, espanhol, francês e italiano. Agora estou me concentrando no português. Além disso, ao participar de muitos eventos de intercâmbio de idiomas em todos os lugares, tornei-me muito bom em ensinar aos outros os idiomas que já conheço. Aprendi a falar devagar, a enunciar com precisão, a ser paciente e, acima de tudo, a corrigir os outros quando eles estão abertos ao feedback.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Charity Work

Art Projects

Eco Projects

Teaching

Gardening

DIY and building projects

Helping around the house

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Some knowledge of:  

General Maintenance

Hospitality/Tourism

Life at a Farmstay

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Able to teach about:  

Languages

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping with Computers/ Internet

More details about your skills

I have backpacked in more than 30 different countries. Mostly solo. I usually stay in hostels but I have also CouchSurfed in the past. This is the first time I travel long-term.

So far in this year-long sabbatical I have done 8 volunteering experiences through WorkAway and WorldPackers.

1. Bourgoin-Jallieu, France: My first WorkAway experience with the warmest French family. Stayed in a caravan in the countryside for two weeks where I prepared the soil for a huge vegetable garden and did other gardening and very physical tasks.

2. Lyon, France: Volunteered in a hostel for one month with a small team of French people that became close friends. Started by changing beds and cleaning. Then moved to café/bar and reception when my French improved.

3. La Prairie, Québec, Canada: Stayed in a house in a suburb close to Montréal for about two weeks with a very insightful lady. I helped mostly with gardening outside but also helping with general maintenance of the house and some cooking.

4. Saint-Basile, Quebec, Canada. Stayed with a wonderful Quebecois family. I mostly helped with their wood shop but also worked on the garden and cooking.

5. M Montreal Hostel. I was an intern for 6 weeks. It was an amazing experience where I got to share my journey with 10 other interns. I got to help out with activities such as walking tours, the hostel bar, cleaning and industrial level laundry.

6. Pupi Bed and Breakfast in Aci Castello, Sicily, Italy. This was my first exposure to an authentic Italian experience. I worked with another volunteer on the remodeling of one of the apartments. We painted the whole thing, put up a new bathroom, and fixed the garden.

7. Tric Trac Hostel in Napoli, Italy. I had the opportunity to work with a team of polyglot Napolitans and learn about their culture and their beautiful city. I worked during breakfast setting it up, in reception helping with the check in, and mostly at the bar as a bartender and as the event organizer and host for the guests. Here I got to practice the four languages I can speak almost every day. My job was to ensure that guests had a great time at the hostel.

8. Vineyard in Gavi, Italy. I stayed with a great Italian family and I mostly spoke Italian. Here I helped prepare the soil for the winter season. I planted the baby vines and worked with pruning. It was very physical but very satisfying work. I helped in the kitchen as well.

Age

33

What else ...

My experiences in hostels have all been through WorldPackers. Here's a link to my profile:

https://www.worldpackers.com/users/4536207

I also put screenshots of those reviews on my Gallery

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  No.