WOMAN: I've been reading your personalstatement,Paul.First,let's talk about your workexperience in South America.What took you there?Was it to gain more fluency in Spanish?
PAUL: Well,as I'm combining Spanish with LatinAmerican studies,my main idea was to find out moreabout the way people lived there.My spoken Spanishwas already pretty good in fact.
WOMAN: So you weren't too worried aboutlanguage barriers?
PAUL: No.In fact,I ended up teaching English there,although that wasn't my original choice ofwork.
WOMAN: I see.How did you find out about all this?
PAUL: I found an agency that runs all kinds of voluntary projects in South America.
WOMAN: What kind of work?
PAUL: Well,there were several possibilities.
WOMAN: You mean construction?Engineering work?
PAUL: Yes,getting involved in building projects was an option.Then there was tourism - takingtourists for walks around the volcanoes - which I actually chose to do,and then there was workwith local farmers.
WOMAN: But you didn't continue with that project.Why not?
PAUL: Because I never really knew whether I'd be needed or not.I'd thought it might be difficultphysically,but I was certainly fit enough...no,I wanted to do something that had more of aproper structure to it.I suppose.I get de-motivated otherwise.