Even Waldbaum’s is an adventure

First time visitors to Long Beach, Alba Roqueta and Claudia Martinez left summer in their native Uruguay just in time for mother nature to drop 10 inches of snow on the barrier island, delivering their first ever snow day.

The South American teachers are visiting Long Beach on a scholarship from the Fulbright Program, an organization that seeks to increase the mutual understanding between cultures with an exchange program. More than 20 educators from Uruguay, a Spanish-speaking country on South America’s east coast, are in the United States for three weeks visiting various parts of the country.

They spent their first week in the states attending seminars in Washington D.C. on the American educational system before arriving in Long Beach.

“The teachers have been so open hearted,” said Martinez, an English teacher at a public elementary school in the capital city of Montivideo. “It’s nice to realize that they teach the same way that we teach.” Martinez and Roqueta, a principal in a public elementary also in Montivideo, had the opportunity to visit all types of classes, spanning early childhood to adult education. “It’s amazing because of all the possibilities the children have here,” Martinez said of her experience in Long Beach.

Martinez said the resources offered to students and teachers by the district are superior to those offered in her school. Often, the few resources she does have, from televisions or C.D. players, don’t work. Occasionally she is without a classroom for her students and must teach outdoors. “Sometimes we have to invent things to achieve what we want,” Martinez said of improvising a lesson plan.

While Roqueta agreed that Uruguayan schools lack the sophisticated teaching equipment found in the States, she was quick to point out that not all schools are like Martinez’s.

In the past five years the Uruguayan government has been offering more aid to schools and students. Since most students do not have a home computer, the Uruguayan government has a program that issues each student a laptop to use in school and at home. “It’s an excellent program because they can communicate with one school to another,” said Roqueta, who wants to use these Internet capabilities to link her school with those in Long Beach.

And when the teachers head back home, the district looks to stay in touch with them. “We want to try to continue the relationship by working with Claudia, Alba and Mike Richez [director of technology and information services] to set up some kind of satellite thing,” said Marcia Mule`, director of alternative and adult programs, who hosted Roqueta in her home. “This won’t be the end.”

The pair were also special guests at the Board of Education meeting on Feb. 9, to give them a look into how the district works on an administrative level.

Not just for educational purposes, their trip also gave the teachers a chance to immerse themselves in a different culture. Now summer in Uruguay, Roqueta and Martinez arrived in Long Beach just in time for the annual Polar Bear Splash and a snowstorm.

“It was crazy!” said Roqueta, who accompanied Mule` to the event that sees thousands jump in the frigid ocean each Super Bowl Sunday. Roqueta admits she dared not enter the freezing Atlantic, which Long Beach shares with her home country.

Afterward, she and Martinez also experienced an American tradition: the Super Bowl, complete with a party offering traditional cuisine like hot Buffalo wings and cold beer.

The unexpected snow day on Feb. 11 offered the teachers a chance to explore the South Shore, including a trip to Freeport’s Nautical Mile and the Roosevelt Field Mall. This week, the pair made a cultural trip to Manhattan to visit the Empire State Building, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History, among other stops.

They haven’t stopped eating since their plane touched down on Long Island, filling their stomachs with everything from bacon and cheese omelets to burgers at Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Park Avenue. Even a trip to Waldbaum’s on Park Avenue was an adventure, as Roqueta was introduced to the self-checkout machine.

“We have had wonderful conversations and many, many laughs,” Mule` said of the experience. “It’s a great way to really meet people.”. She noted that this is not the first time the district has hosted foreign teachers, and the program Martinez and Roqueta are involved in has an opportunity for a Long Beach teacher to visit Uruguay.

“We saw that the whole community is so open-minded and we are

so grateful to everybody.” said Roqueta.

Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.