What happens when an American teacher who spent many years teaching English Language Development (ELD) students becomes an immigrant herself? In this deeply personal episode of the Empower Students Now podcast, host Amanda Werner records from Uruguay — her new home — and shares the raw, unfiltered reality of her first month as an American expat in a Spanish-speaking country where she doesn’t speak the language.

This isn’t a polished relocation guide. It’s Amanda sitting in her echoey Airbnb (her microphone is floating across the Atlantic in a shipping container), talking to her dog and her computer about the culture shock, the grief of leaving her community, the tiny toilets, the life-changing produce, and the overwhelming experience of suddenly being the one who can’t read labels, can’t communicate with the car salesman, and can’t find rainbow Goldfish (Amanda’s kid’s fave) anywhere.

For teachers: this episode will fundamentally shift how you think about your ELD and immigrant students. For anyone considering a move abroad: this is what the first month actually feels like.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why Amanda and her family left the Bay Area for Uruguay: the political catalyst, the two-year planning process, and the values that made Uruguay the right fit
• The scouting trip that sealed the deal: what Amanda’s family saw in December 2024 that convinced them this was home
• Why Uruguay stood out: the first country to legalize abortion and recreational marijuana, progressive LGBTQ+ rights, President Pepe Mujica’s legacy, and the pride flags visible everywhere
• The residency process: why they hired a local bilingual facilitator, the difference between temporary and permanent residency, and why Uruguay is considered one of the easiest countries to immigrate to in 2026
• The emotional cost of leaving: walking away from friendships built over years, the fear, the therapy, the journaling, and the conversations with her spouse about making the decision independently
• Culture shock in daily life: buying a stick-shift Suzuki Celerio using Google Translate, micro-sized everything (toilets, refrigerators, malls, Coke cups), no dryers, clotheslines everywhere
• The food revelation: why Uruguayan produce tastes like candy compared to American grocery stores — and what you can’t find (Tillamook cheese, cheap peanut butter, rainbow Goldfish)
• Walking in her ELD students’ shoes: how being unable to read food labels, communicate at a dealership, or navigate grocery stores gave Amanda a visceral understanding of what her immigrant students experience every day
• Reversed seasons, deserted beaches, and the strange beauty of winter in the Southern Hemisphere
• Amanda’s new Instagram account @theculturedmom — a personal, non-growth-focused account documenting life in Uruguay for people who care

This episode is for Amanda’s regular listeners who’ve been wondering where she went, for teachers who want a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience, and for anyone who’s ever Googled “best countries to move to from the U.S. at 2 AM.”

If you found this episode helpful or just enjoyed the ride, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

Transcript

I moved to Uruguay
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Amanda: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Empower Students Now podcast. I am Amanda Werner, your host, and I am recording from Uruguay, or as the locals call it, Uruguay. I probably did not say that correctly ’cause I don’t speak Spanish. But now I live in a Spanish-speaking country, which is mind-blowing. It really is. I’m in Uruguay.

I’m actually here. I’m actually living the life of an international immigrant? No. Expat? Yeah, I guess I’m an expat now. I’m an expat living in Uruguay, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I am now walking [00:01:00] in the shoes of my ELD students, and wow, it is overwhelming. It is stressful. It is hard to describe how hard it is and how draining and exhausting living in a new country is, but I’m gonna try.

I’m gonna try to talk about this experience as genuinely and just off the cuff as I can. It, it is a big deal to suddenly… And it, and it was not suddenly. This took two years of planning, but to choose to move to another country is not something most people do. And so in this episode, I’ll talk about why, uh, why we chose to move here, and I’ll talk a little bit about [00:02:00] the experience of moving here and just the culture shock and the challenges of it.

So hopefully you will have some fun with me listening and, uh, we can connect even though I’m talking to my computer and my dog. My dog is here. Hi, Stormy. We brought, we brought our pets. I have my dog here, I have my cat here, I have my kid here. We’re in an Airbnb, so yeah, let’s get started. Welcome to the Empower Students Now podcast, a podcast about equity, neurodiversity, mindfulness, and student engagement.

There’s a lot that needs to change in our education system. The good news is teachers have the power to make these changes now.

All right, let’s start with why in the world would I [00:03:00] move thousands and thousands of miles, of miles away from my family, my friends, my country? And I do still very much love my country, the United States of America But two years ago, when the president of our country, uh, you know the guy, uh, was reelected.

I don’t even wanna say his name, I hate him so much. Um, he was reelected for a second term, and, uh, that was in 2024. And after that happened, uh, my husband and I decided that it was time to start looking at other places we wanted to live, other countries. Um, yes, that is how strongly repelled we were, uh, by the citizens [00:04:00] of America choosing this man that is now our president, and we were disgusted.

And just, I don’t wanna focus on politics too much, but I know there are a lot of l- a lot of people out there that know, uh, exactly how I feel and, and maybe even are thinking about the same things. You know, like, “How can I get out of here?” And I know that not everyone has the means to do this, so I do feel very fortunate that we did have the means and the resources, ’cause it does take a lot of resources, and a lot of mental, uh, bandwidth and, like…

And a partner. You know, like doing this all by myself, I probably couldn’t have done it. So yeah, I, I’ve definitely had a lot of help getting here, and, uh, used a lot of [00:05:00] resources, financial resources, just, um, emotional support from friends and family, and just logistics support. But in 2024, we decided that we needed to start looking, and we, uh, honestly, we Googled, “What are the best countries for, um, to live?”

Like, for people that want to leave the US. Like we were– You know, people can just Google, like, the most specific things these days, especially, you know, with AI and Gemini and all this stuff. And ugh, that’s a whole other, you know, road, rabbit hole that I don’t wanna go down, but that’s another thing that, you know, is just really scary and unnerving, just AI and its impact on our country, and just letting it go rampant, and no [00:06:00] regulations, and just how it’s just being- embraced by school districts and just it’s like, wow, we’re doing this again.

We’re doing this again, are we? Okay, I am tired of this. I am sick of this. I can’t handle it anymore. So anyway, so we googled places and Uruguay, and I’m gonna keep saying Uruguay even though I know that’s not how you pronounce it. It’s, it’s pronounced in Spanish, the U makes it oo sound. So Uruguay. Um, and I’m pretty sure the G is silent because I don’t really hear people that are native Spanish speakers saying it.

Uh, anyways, okay. Gosh, this is why I don’t do off-the-cuff episodes ’cause I get on tangents so much. Hopefully you are having fun listening and I’m making you smile. That’s the goal, right? [00:07:00] Um, empower students now and make teachers smile now. Okay. So yeah, Uruguay came up like really quickly. Like it was, you know, Spain, um, a lot of people I talk to, of course Canada, um, Vancouver, things like that.

Um, and a lot of people were telling me that there’s a lot of, uh, there were a lot of people retiring to Portugal. So we just started doing a lot of research back in 2024, and we just decided, hey, what the heck? Like we both have always wanted, I’m talking about my spouse and I, we’ve always wanted to speak Spanish.

I, uh, I am a quarter Mexican, and I have, you know, my grandma, my great-grandma, my great-grandpa, my second cousins, and s- what are they called? Like my [00:08:00] mom’s aunt and uncles, second aunt and uncles, I don’t know, great-aunt and uncles, uh, all speak Spanish, and I’ve just always wanted to speak Spanish. And so we started really narrowing in on Uruguay and Spain, um, but we’d been to Spain before.

We’d never been to Uruguay. So we decided to go on a scouting trip in 2024 in November of 20– no, December of 2024. So this was right after you know who was elected. And we, um, we loved it. We loved it here. We thought it, like people were so friendly and kind and patient with us. Most people didn’t speak English, and somehow we got by.

And we brought our kid too. And, um And we, we started to tr– we tried to research, you know, like cost of [00:09:00] living and, like, we did it ’cause we wanted to try and live somewhere. We were from the Bay Area. I live in the Bay Area. I used to live in the Bay Area, and it is so expensive to live in the Bay Area. And so living here is a lot cheaper, but…

than the Bay Area, and it’s cheaper than Spain. And if we ch- if we chose Spain, I think that we would want to travel, like, a lot to different European countries that are also very expensive to travel to. And so we just… And Latin America is just, it’s a place that is– I really have always wanted to explore.

I’ve always wanted to, um, visit, you know, sh- Chile and Costa Rica and, and Mexico and Brazil and Argentina. I mean, there’s so many places that I’ve just… that are on my bucket list, you know? Uh, Patagonia. [00:10:00] Just, oh my gosh, I don’t know. There’s just a lot of places. And so we just… You know, the more that we researched, the more that we also learned about how progressive and even, like, that this country was…

Uruguay was the first country to, um, legalize abortion, legalize recreational marijuana use. It was the first country to… There’s a whole bunch of firsts for this country. Um, they, like, have all of these rights for trans people Uh, there are a lot of trans people coming here from America because they’re facing so much discrimination right now in the United States.

And so just the more that we learned about this, and when we visited here, we noticed a lot of [00:11:00] pride flags. We noticed a lot of, um, you know, lesbian and like gay couples just f- being physically, you know, touching, you know, holding hands, hugging. And you don’t see that in the United States, even in the Bay Area, like especially women.

You don’t really see women being af- affectionate with each other in the United States. And you can see that here. And it was just eye-opening, like what? And then, you know, we learned about the history of Uruguay and about this, uh, president who, um, his name is escaping me, but he died. He was President, uh, Pepe.

His– I know his nickname was Pepe. And I’ll put a link in the show notes to this, uh, article about him from the [00:12:00] BBC, but he’s, he was called the poorest president, like, in the world or something like that because he gave like 90% of his income, which wasn’t that much, like his monthly salary, to charities and to the poor.

And like, he just lived like in a very, you know, small house and like he just lived like a normal guy. And he, he was also like, I think he was, uh, the president that legalized, uh, um, a lot of different, um A lot of different, um, things like marijuana and just to, to curb cartel, uh, you know, cr- criminals and things like that, but also abortion, um, giving women [00:13:00] rights, uh, giving, uh, LGBTQ people more rights, things like this, like gay marriage, legalizing gay marriage.

I don’t know if he was responsible for all of that, but it just, it just really, really, uh, became very clear that this was a country that aligned with our values. And in visiting here, um, we really, really thought that, it, the people were very friendly and kind, and we just saw s- we, we could see ourselves living here.

And so that was two years ago, and in the, after coming here with our child, who also loved it, especially the birds. Our kid is really, really in love with birds. They’re a birder , which is so cool. And also Pride and, uh, and, and going to Pride parades [00:14:00] and, and they really loved seeing all the The, um, just flags and LGBTQI+, um, just, uh, representation here.

So we went home and, you know, we kept doing research. I joined some Facebook expat groups, which were so helpful. And we did become very overwhelmed with the process of trying to become residents. You don’t become a citizen, um, and we will always be citizens of the United States. But what you do is you go through a very long, drawn-out, complicated, confusing process to become a permanent resident.

Um, and usually people become temporary residents first, and then over time, once they’ve [00:15:00] accomplished all that they need to accomplish, and there’s a lot, um, then they become– they get their permanent residency. And so we are in that process right now. So we’ll never become, like, actual citizens, but we will have the right to live here permanently once we’ve completed that process.

And we did hire someone who is a local and who provides services, um, to people all over the world, uh, because he speaks Spanish, he’s bilingual, he speaks English, and he knows how the government systems work. And so we, we, we hired someone to help us with all of that. That’s how complicated it is. I mean, it’s not that complicated if you speak Spanish, but we don’t.

We don’t speak Spanish, so we had to hire someone. Um, and honestly, like, people say that [00:16:00] Uruguay is, like, it’s one of the easiest places to immigrate to. Um, Spain, I think, is getting harder and harder. Like, their, their, the, the, the requirements, um, are making it more and more challenging for people to, uh, immigrate there.

But here it’s– There– Um, I think that at this point in time, which it’s 2026, it’s June 20th, 2026, um, it’s fairly straightforward and people and peop- immigrants are welcome to come here. Uh, but they do have to follow this process and it can be quite challenging. Um, and yeah, we just kept having conversations about, you know, the, the drawbacks of doing something like this and the benefits.

And really we came to this place of [00:17:00] like, there is no right answer. Because we had community and I, I don’t wanna get emotional, um, but it was very, very hard. We, I worked very hard to, um, make friends, um, for myself and for my kid, and that took a lot of effort. Um, as someone that is autistic and ADHD and neurodivergent, and I get along more with kids than I do with adults, it was really, really hard for me to build up this community that I had built and these friendships and to just walk away from all of that.

Um, I definitely Um, was scared. I was very, very scared to do that. And so it, it really required a lot of, um, [00:18:00] conversations with myself, with my journal, um, with my therapist, um, with my spouse. And, um, he was adamant. Like, he really, really was convinced that it was the right decision for him, but he did not want to be s- he did not want to force me to go with him.

And so he really, really wanted me to make the decision independent of him. And so it took a lot of time and work to figure out like, well, how is this gonna benefit me individually, and like, why is this the right decision for me? Um, and also, like, what’s best for our kid? And so there were just many factors that, that went into coming here.

And now that we’re here, I, [00:19:00] uh… Well, I mean, it’s been a month, and getting here and, like, the months leading up to getting here w- were some of the most stressful times of my en-entire life. Um, I would equate everything we went through to having a baby. Um, I mean, I feel like we were birthing like a new life.

That’s, like, what we did, you know? We birthed a new life. Um, we’re still birthing it. Like, this is the longest labor ever. Um, we’re, you know, we’re into Airbnbs. We don’t even have a permanent place to live yet. Um, and we’re probably gonna be in Airbnbs for the foreseeable future, uh, because we do want to, uh, buy a house and, uh, ’cause renting is very complicated here.

Uh, it seems a lot harder to rent [00:20:00] than it, it would be to just buy something. And property is so much more reasonably priced here than in the Bay Area. Uh, so, so yeah, being here, um- It’s hard. It’s really, really hard. Um, sometimes just going to the grocery store is a challenge because I can’t read the labels of food, and just figuring out, like, the food is very different here.

And, and like this– You know, it’s hard… Like, for example, my family and I, we, we ate a lot of Tillamook cheese. They don’t have that here. They don’t have Tillamook cheese here. Um, and peanut butter is really, really expensive here. And, like, [00:21:00] pizza tastes different here, and sushi, and I mean, everything sort of tastes a little different.

And, and, and just trying to figure out, like, “Well, what are our staples now?” Like, my kid lived off of rainbow Goldfish. I haven’t found any rainbow Goldfish anywhere, like in any stores, and we’ve been to quite a few different stores, um, grocery stores and like just local. Like, they, they have these little, tiny just– I don’t even know what to call them.

There’s probably a Spanish word for them, but they’re like these little shops, and they have just like fresh fruits and veggies. And the produce here is incredible. It– Like, eating an apple is like eating candy. It’s like you can find [00:22:00] food, you know, like strawberries and, and like kiwis and, and things like that and, and like peppers and it just tastes so delicious here.

Wow. Uh, and so there’s certain things like that that are just like, “Whoa, this is what food is supposed to taste like.” And, you know, you can get tasty produce at farmers ma- markets in the US, but I mean, this is even better than f- food, produce and fruits and vegetables at farmers markets. Like, it’s sort of indescribable.

Um- Just have to come and taste it for yourself really, uh, especially the apples. Oh my goodness. And another thing is it is fall here, fall going into winter. In the US, everyone’s on summer break, so it’s just really, really strange, [00:23:00] you know, like seasons are totally reversed here. Um, and that’s different.

And there’s just– You go to the beach and it’s like deserted, you know? Like there, there’s… What? Like if you go to the beach at the Bay– in the Bay Area, th- there’s so many people there. Here, you could go to a beach and like not see anyone. Um, I mean, there are people here, like on Saturday, like today’s Saturday, I went to the beach and there were people fishing.

There were– There’s lots of people fishing. Um, yeah, so it’s just such an interesting experience. And one thing that I’ve told my friends about it here is like everything is kind of micro-sized. Like the toilets are smaller. Um, the cars that people drive are so tiny. We bought a [00:24:00] Suzuki Celerio, and the reason we bought a tiny little car, one of my friends Googled ’cause she didn’t know what it was, and she Googled it, and she– Google said, “This is a perfect car for a 16-year-old.”

A starter car for a 16-year-old, and it’s a stick shift. And we bought this car actually from a dealership, and no one spoke English. So we bought a car using Google Translate. It took some time, but the guys were really nice and, uh, friendly, and that’s just like par for the course really here, um, people being friendly.

Not everyone, but like most people you interact with are very, very friendly. And, uh And so we bought this tiny little car, and the reason we did was because that’s what everyone drives here, and it’s really, uh, expensive to drive cars that are not very [00:25:00] common because you have to import the parts. And, you know, there’s a lot of tariffs and taxes and things that you have to pay and fees to import things.

I mean, importing my dog, there were all these fees, and that was just a nightmare. That whole process was so, so hard. Um, but just everything is tiny is, is like one way to describe what it’s like. And what I love about that is it’s, it’s like very minimalist. Like their washers, uh, they, they only have o- like we’re in an Airbnb, and most Airbnbs only have a washer.

No one really has a dryer. Everyone dries their clothes on clotheslines. And, um, I’m trying to think of other things that are tiny here. So, uh, like we went to this mall. It was really tiny. It was like a micro mall. I mean, I don’t think all the mall… Like Montevideo is the capital of, of [00:26:00] Uruguay, and it’s a lot…

You know, it’s, it’s bigger. There’s a lot more people. There’s a lot more restaurants and things like that. Um, but like Uh, yeah. It just, it’s so different. Their sinks are smaller. Their, their refrigerators are smaller. Their ovens are smaller. And I really think that that is, um… I think it’s awesome because it’s sort of cons- c- conservative or, like, it’s conservationist.

Um, I don’t think that maybe… Maybe it’s meant to be that, that way. I don’t know. But I think it’s pretty cool. Everything’s so big in America. Everything’s so giant and super-sized. Oh, like, if you go to McDonald’s and you order a Coke, it’s n- a normal size. It’s, it’s a normal size, and I wouldn’t say it’s a small amount, right?

It’s, it’s a Coke. [00:27:00] But, like, America, you know, you order just a regular Coke and it’s huge. And here you get, like, just, like, a cup. Like, a… Just a normal-sized cup of Coke. So yeah. That’s what I have to say for today. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I know that teachers in the US are on summer break, and so this episode is a little bit, like, um, not like a normal episode that I w- l- that I would provide all sorts of, you know, new information for you.

And I did, uh, I did, uh, start a series about Neurotrib- the book, “Neurotribes,” and I plan to finish that series, but right now, you know, my life has been turned upside down. And so I just wanted to [00:28:00] share that with you all, listeners. And I know I have a solid base of people who listen, um, regularly, and so this episode’s for you.

Um, I’m thinking about you. I’m not… I didn’t disappear. I just moved thousands and thousands and thousands of miles away, and I’m really happy. I’m happy to be spending my money in a new economy and, like, supporting businesses here rather than in the United States, and it feels good. Feels really, really good.

I miss my friends. I do miss a lot of things about living in the United States. I like the toilets in the United States. They fit me a little better, I think. But, you know, it’s just a toilet.[00:29:00]

I’m gonna adjust. I’m gonna- it’s- I’m gonna figure this out, and I’m gonna get used to this, this new country, and the new customs, and the new just, the new everything, the changes. It’s, it’s exciting. It’s hard. Um, yeah, and I’ll keep, I’ll keep podcasting and giving you an inside look into, uh, this wild experience that I’m, I’m going through, and definitely stay tuned for more about this.

And if you’re interested, and if you’re someone who made it to the very end of this episode, I would like to invite you to follow me on my new Instagram account. I am @theculturedmom on

Instagram. I’ve been posting videos and pictures [00:30:00] for people that are close to me. I’m not trying to grow this Instagram. I’m not trying to get a lot of followers. I just want the people who like me and who I like to, um, get an inside take on, uh, being in this amazing country. Okay. Thank you for listening, and, uh, I apologize if the sound quality isn’t up to normal standard.

I don’t have my microphone. It’s in a shipping container floating on the Atlantic Ocean right now, but hopefully soon I’ll have it, and I’ll be able to, uh, get back to better sound quality. But for now, you’ll just have to deal with this sound quality. Hopefully, it was okay, and if you feel like you know someone who would enjoy, uh, this podcast, feel free, as always, to share it with [00:31:00] someone you know.

Okay. Bye bye.