Buenos Aires: BRILLIANT and AMAZING!

So! I have quite a lot to dish on this week. We left for Buenos Aires on Friday morning. We stopped in a place a long the way that is where a world famous collector has several of his collections. They also make jam out of everything there! Then we went on to Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay. It is a little cute town with lots of shopping and a lot slower pace than the city. We walked around and climbed around on the old walls and such for a while.

Then we went the rest of the way to BA on the ferry. The bridge between BA and Uruguay has been closed and is still closed so we took the BuqueBus which is a ferry and a bus all in one. Ben and Autumn and I had a lot of fun on the bus. We got to BA and went to our hotel. After a while, we went to a restaurant and got some Argentine pesos out of the ATM thing. The charge said that it was $11.55 to get money out but then we discovered that it was in pesos which means it was like US$3 which is pretty normal.

The next day we went on a tour of the city with our personal tour guide named Angeles. She was great. We took lots of pictures. We went to the Plaza de Mayo which has the famous "pink house" and quite a few monuments. Then we went to the cathedral where San Martín, the liberator of Peru, Chile, and Argentina, is buried. Then we went to La Boca. This was a place that was build to be basically slums, but then a man came a long and decided that just because they were poor didn't mean their houses had to be sad. So they got lots of different colors of really bright paints of all colors and made it look more cheerful. Then the tourists liked the colors, so it has turned into quite the tourist destination with lots of restaurants and shops and all that kind of stuff. I think my mom would really like it too. It was my favorite place in BA.

After that, we went across town to Recoletta, which is home to the giant cemetery with Evita's grave. Eva Perón is the famous wife of a president of Argentina and the title star of the musical Evita. There were so many beautiful graves and statues and all that. The graves are all like mini-building mausoleums with like layers and layers of caskets stories down. Then there was a market that we walked through and I bought a cute artsy painting thing. Then we went to the fine arts museum that had like Picasso, Monet, Rembrant, and Van Gogh. Upstairs was all South American art. Autumn and I had a lot of fun narrating each piece and it took us about two and a half hours to get through most of it.

Then my group of Taylor, Linley, and Abel walked around the market again and I got a ring (something I had been wanting since I got here) and its super cute. That night we got dressed up and went to a tango show. The food was great and the dancers were fun too. It was a great but long day.

I am going to cut myself off there and tell about Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in the next post mostly because I need to go to bed. I can't wait to get yall updated on the rest. Check back soon!

Teatro Solís

Hello Readers?... Come in?... I can (schhhhh) hear you... In a (schhhh) tunnel... come in?...

That is my subtle way of reminding you that I cannot indeed read your thoughts as you read my blog, so I would love to have some comments and/or votes on the poll to let me know that there are people out there still. :)

Anyway, yesterday was a great day for us here in Montevideo. We started off the day with another wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, fried banana bread things, and coffee, etc. and were ready for the day. Then we had chapel and our family meeting where we talked about our upcoming trip to Buenos Aires. We are going to be there from this Friday through Tuesday of next week. Although it is not very far away physically, it is a whole other country so things like customs and passports and such do come into play. We are going to see most of the big sights and have some good times with the whole group, and then have some free time on Monday (my birthday) and Tuesday morning until we load up to come home. I am sadly going to be out of touch during that time because I am not going to bring my MacBook along for the ride.

After chapel, I went on a little adventure to get some accessories and such for the our night at the theater. I got some tights to wear with my dress, a flower for my hair, and some earrings that were pretty exciting. All for about US$11. Better than Walmart, definitely a further walk though. When I got back, I had some down time/study time for our Biochemistry test tomorrow and then ate lunch. After Biochem, we had our culture class and had a guest speaker. This man is a sociologist here in Montevideo, but got his doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin and lived there for 3 years. He related some of the cross-cultural differences that he felt while he was there. That was a really cool reflection of some of the things that we are experiencing and some of the opposite. One thing that he talked about was how all of the girls in Texas smile at you and are helpful to you even if they are not interested in you romantically. We laughed at this because our reaction is, "Why not smile and help and laugh?" which was the question in the first place, just in reverse. He was really nice and interesting and provided great insights into our culture and his own.

After that we had about an hour to get dressed up to go see the philharmonic here in Montevideo at the famous Teatro Solís. It is downtown off the big Independence Square Plaza. After a few pictures, we got into groups. No one volunteered when Wimon said he needed a group of three, so I just got the tickets and Matt and Jaimie followed. When we got to the doors, they directed us upstairs and then to this lady who would seat us. We walked down this hall, not knowing where we were until we got to these sweet little double doors. We had our own little balcony with three seats! It was so beautiful inside that Jaimie was almost in tears. We sat down and then a few minutes later, we realized that another part of our group was directly across from us in the balcony opposite ours! Naturally, we goofed off with pseudo-sign language until it started.

The lights went all the way down and it was amazing. The orchestra was quite good and nothing sounded overly-Latin until the pieces after the intermission. They were talented artists though. The building and the music were beautiful and I was thinking how impressed I would be if a guy tried to pull this off as a date. In that moment, it was brought to my attention why that would not happen. Matt leaned over and said, "Let's play a game. It's called Find-All-of-the-old-guys-that-are-asleep. I already got five!" Oh boys! So ridiculous! Anyway, we played the game and I think I got up to 11 before a major crescendo woke most of them up.

During intermission, I walked around the theater to stretch my legs and talk to Taylor, but when I opened the doors to our little compartment to get out, the little old lady sitting in the next balcony over, exclaimed all in Spanish something about how beautiful and angelic I looked. I kind of nodded and walked on. But after the performance, I learned that she was not quite done. She leaned over to talk to Matt (picture to right: Matt in a body guard seat) about how pretty and precious and what my name was and if I was Uruguayan and all this stuff. She relived the moment that I walked out of the doors and kept going on and on and on. She even reached over to touch my cheek at one point. We just nodded and such and then she finally finished and walked off. Then the lady behind her quietly said, "I don't know her." It was really funny. Especially when the second lady was like, "I don't know her." Anyways!

We walked home and about halfway back, we got ice cream at La Cigale, my new obsession. It is amazing. Overall, though, the night was just amazing. I needed something really fun and upbeat and it was definitely that!

Thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon.

¿Qué pasa?

As you can see from my crafty title, I have spent the last four days trying to learn keyboard tricks to make my learning experience more fun and to become an international MAC citizen by learning cool things. ¿No?

Anyways, this week has been uneventful and very eventful all at the same time. It has been up and down and up again which is good. Always good to end the weekend on a good note.

Friday was a pretty basic day with P.Chem having been moved to the morning. That afternoon we ventured to the Montevideo Shopping Mall to go to a store called "Tienda Igelsa" to see what the "American store" was really like. "¿What was it like? ¿You ask?" (Obnoxious yet?) Well, fine readers it was like a small disorganized and downsized Walmart. Full of the basic scurrying Walmart shoppers going around and disorganizing it further.

Lauren cooked a fine dinner for us of this Mexican casserole stuff that was delicious. We milled around and played games and watched a movie that night after a trip to the gym. We went to Este's fighting class. Oh wait, that was really funny. All the guys decided that they needed to come see what the fun stuff was about, so they all came to fight class. It really was a good time. They were so hilarious to watch. Ben (the tall one) was right behind me and decided it would be fun to try to punch around my head (really long arms). So he did and it worked for a little while. Eventually though, he did clip my head a bit and backed off. We joked about it for the rest of the night. It was fun to have them there and smirk as they grimaced because the work-out was hard! Yes!

Anyways, Saturday was awesome for the most part! We went ice-skating after sleeping in. Herman, a Uruguayan guy that wanted to practice his English, took us. There was a little rink on the almost top floor of a parking garage. The skates that I got really hurt my feet. They were like the old leather kind and everyone else had like rollerblade looking ones. I was the cutest for sure, but they didn't have like any ankle support so I was quite cautious, having weak ankles to begin with. It was still fun though.

Today was a day of church, homework, rest, relaxation, more homework, and more church. We went to a new place for lunch and I had some pasta that was pretty good, but better tonight when I ate the other half with some cheese on top. :) We have a Biochem test coming up so most energies are focused on that. We leave for BA on Friday morning and we are celebrating my birthday on Thursday with a lunch and a cake! Hurray for being 20!

I can't wait to have more to talk about! Thanks for the support and comments and voting on the poll!

Super Sketchy Shot Shack

This article is dedicated to my darling and dainty Deb Strickland and punctual but perfect Phyllis (should I have used functional and fabulous Phyllis?):

Why hello fine and fabulous readers! In order to entertain myself this cool and comfortable evening. I am going to try to use as many alluring alliterations as available in my refined and reputable vocabulary. First I should share with you our super sketchy shot shindig this morning at the dull, dark, and daunting docks of Montevideo. We hopped abroad a big, bulky, brassy bus and headed down to the Port of Montevideo where there was waiting a ominous and open door into a shady and shallow room on which the next door said something like "Department of Epidemiology." Upon our abrupt arrival at said painted port of entry, we whistled and wandered as we waited for the door to be open. A wise and willful woman of short stature appeared to warn us of the clear and clever contraindications and we were urgently ushered into the next room. After the miniscule and musical man sang aloud our private passport numbers in super-speedy Spanish, I walked to the wise and willful doctor woman to have my arm poked, pinched, and purified before the short and stinging shot. Thankfully the stinging was indeed short although I found it funny to feign illness as I stood up. Boy did I give my dear and darling director quite a furious but fleeting fright. We bumbled and boarded the running and roaring bus and headed to the Brazilian consulate where we were brave but bored to again reluctantly release our private passport numbers and simply super and suave signatures. When the legal letter regarding our extravagant exit from said country was daringly denied, we bumbled aboard the bus again and came clucking to our comfy and cosy casa. (Is it cheating if I use some sparing Spanish?)

Leading up to our lovely and luscious lunch of cheeky and chunky cheery chicken, I slaved and slumped over my hounding hemorrhage of homework. After said delicious and delightful delicacies, I woefully walked to my terrifying and tormenting teacher of Spanish. However, the mad and mastering maestra (teacher in spanish) was sadly sick and henceforth absent from said class. But we were willingly taken in by such a bearded and bounding teacher that you can't even imagine. Señor Mumbly-Mustache was vast and reminded me of a cheery and chipper chap known as St. Nicholas.

After three taunting and tantalizing hours of torture, we retreated to our healthy and hallowed haven. But it was not long after that that I was surprisingly summoned to the attractive and alluring Aliansza to lead a enchanting English conversation club for Uruguayos to learn English. We had tons of terrific laughs and long language conversations about what it is like to love and lose yourself whilst language learning. Oh the striking similarities and daunting disillusionments we came clambering to throughout the tough but tender conversation. Likewise on the boisterous bus to our humble haven once more, we met another mustached man who spoke our elegant and endearing English we miss so much. Finally at the end of the long and lumbering day, I am slyly sitting here, in my chair (rhyme, eh?) chatting and chalking out what will the be the chipper conclusion of this long-winded and lovely lecture. So I suppose the taunting terminus of this timid talk is teaming with curiosity of what the next post will hold. But surprises would be merely prizes without the sur of the sulky south making them much more. So thus I end, be gallant in your greenhouses and brave in your barns, be swift as the slumbering sea, and clever as the cow's calf. And remember thus: An essay drenched in daring yet alluring alliterations is worth every slipping single second it takes to compose and conclude.

Expo Prado

That's right boys and girls! Gather around to hear about the annual round up of cowboys and indians, minus the indians and change the name of the cowboys to Gauchos. Yesterday, we took a stroll in the park in a part of town called Prado to check out what all the fuss was about.

After a long bus ride through the city, we arrived at the bus stop right in front of the Presidential Palace. No one was home though, for two reasons. First of all, President Vasquez does not live there. He refused to move in there when he was elected. He remains in his private residence. Secondly, Vasquez was in Washington, D.C., this week to meet with Secretary Clinton. They had a brief press conference that you can find online easily (link below). I am glad that they decided to keep being friends (not that there was any doubt).

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/09/129227.htm

We walked a short way through a mainly residential area and entered the Expo for about US$5. Then we got to walk around and see different animals and gauchos all around. They had things to buy and snacks and all. They even had little exhibits from other countries such as China, Mexico, Argentina, and more. It was really interesting. In the middle there was a show ring where when we walked through they were showing wooly sheep and GIANT bulls. We saw them prepping the bulls and it was really funny. They hairspray them and fluff up their tails and wash and comb them up until the minute they walk into the room. I got some pictures of them just because they were so giant.

We also found a section with goats and some adorable baby goats, two barns of sheep, a barn of milk cows, and a barn of horses. Most of the horses were already gone, but I got to make friends with a couple of them. They were gorgeous!

We got there about 2PM and a bit after 5 we realized how late it was beginning to get and that we should get home to do some homework. We did and after a quick bite of left-overs I spent several hours studying. At one point there were like 7-8 of us up in the loft studying which is basically our whole class. The studying didn't stand a chance for that long so I retreated to my room.

I will admit that I got a bit caught up in talking to people in Abilene and such last night and didn't get very much sleep. Possibly because of that and new allergens that bloomed this week (after all, it is spring here) I am not feeling so well today. I got up and had some breakfast and then slept all morning. Then I went to lunch and class and then back to sleep. I woke up around 5 and had dinner and watched a movie, but I am tired again. Please pray that I am not really getting sick (a couple of bugs have been going around here in the house). I hope to be feeling better and rested tomorrow.

Tomorrow, speaking of, we are going to get our shots for yellow fever and visas for Brazil! One good thing is balanced by a bad thing. That's okay though. Just an update for all of you faithful readers, I did go and get my laundry today and it was safe. I love the smell of the laundry here and the fact that I don't have to do it! :)

Blessings on your weeks!

Are you or have you ever been associated with the Nazi gobernment of Germany?

Turns out that the back of the visa application for the country of Brazil is thoroughly entertaining! We filled the application out yesterday in international studies to be able to turn them in when we go on Thursday and it was quite exciting. As for the whole, am I a Nazi question, I am not, but significant doubt might be cast on that statement because of questions 13, 14 and 15 which were hair, eye, and skin color. The answers "blonde, blue, and fair" might earn me another glance when it gets to question 35 but who knows. We'll cross our fingers and hope that I am not the first Aryan person to apply for a travel visa. After all, I did say I would be there for only 7 days, so hopefully they would acknowledge the minimal possibility of forming the Fourth Reich in Brazil in that time period. Anyway!!

I am still here in Montevideo, for all of you who are curious. Yesterday was thoroughly uneventful. I didn't even follow through with plans to go take my laundry in. Thankfully, I corrected that error this morning and now have a pink slip of paper with a big 58 on it to remind me to pick up laundry tomorrow. Somehow, the lack of clothes in my closet leads me to believe I would forget. However, she did think that my name is Catalina, so I'm hoping no giant salad dressing bottles go in and steal my laundry based on the fact that my name is written on said bottle. However, the likelihood of me giving my pink number 58 to the aforementioned bottle leads me to believe that my t-shirts and other clothes are indeed safe. Anyway!!

Autumn and I went to the gym for Step Class last night and my favorite teacher, Bruno taught. Besides being tragically handsome and built, he has a tattoo on his right arm that looks Samoan. For this reason, we called him "Sam" until we found out that his name is Bruno. We do get an undue amount of attention from him because we are so bad, but we smile anyway. I can't decide if he likes us or hates us. I seem to get called out by his eyes all the time for being off step, but I don't mind. ;) Autumn and I got chased after on the street last night by this guy that had whistled as we walked by. We were scared until we realized that it was Wimon who had been in line for the ATM. We scolded him for scaring us. Anyway!!

That's about all I got for today. Watch my videos that I made about the Estancia this weekend and the one about the Legislative Palace if you haven't already! Thanks for the support and comments!

Adventures in Uruguay: Estancia

Estancia and Weekend Number 2

Wow! So much has happened, yet again. You guys just can't imagine how many hillarious and fun things happen in a day to wear me out so much as to not be able to blog about it. This group of students is so much fun and already so special to me. You can't imagine the bonds and friendships that we are making on a daily basis. Well, Friday was fairly un-eventful as days go. I did homework and watched a couple of movies, our new favorite past time. That night we went to fight class after a home-made dinner of Thai curry from Allie, one of the students here with me. Fight class and curry were an interesting combination, but it was really delicious and fight class was really fun. I learned how to do one of those like jumping, mid-air kicks. I'm not very good, but getting better. That night we watched Eagle Eye with Shia LaBouf. Excellent movie even if the acting is not up to par for every minute.Saturday was a very exciting day. We went to an estancia, which is like a ranch. After about an hour long bus ride, we got there and had some free time to walk around and take pictures. I am hoping to have a slideshow up soon for all of you non-facebook-ers. PS I respect you, non-facebook-ers.

For lunch we had a grilled meal called an asado. There was like beef and chorizo (sausage) and blood sausage (gross) and peppers and more. It was great. The bread was really good. Of course, as all good meals in Uruguay go, there was ham and cheese included in the deal. There were also delicious tomatoes. For desert it was like a sweet crepe filled with dulce de leche and topped with ice cream. Amazing!

After lunch, we went to the pens with the different animals and got to feed them. It was like being at May Farm all over again learning the names of the animals hands on. There were geese and turkeys and ducks and a dog named Pedro and sheep and cows and horses! I don't remember all of their Spanish names, but it was fun getting to pretend that we are four or five-years-old again. Jaimie and I even got to feed a baby cow a bottle of a liter of milk. It was only two days old and precious!

(See picture) After the feeding of the animals, we went on a ride on a trailor thing behind a tractor. It was like a hay ride but without the hay, for which I am grateful. We saw a little baby lamb too (I realize the phrase is redundant)!

After our ride we went into a like 19th century train car that would have been like a first class car with sleeping quarters and a bathroom. Built inside of the car was a giant model train station complete with working train and lights. It was a replica of the train station in Montevideo at that point in time. The lady from the Estancia played a track thing that explained more about the replica, but it was in Spanish and my Spanish was already used up for the day. There was still one car that was intact and that was cool to see what travel in a train would be like for days on end. Crazy stuff!

Right after that we went to the horse pen and split up into three riding groups. My group was first and so we mounted the half-dead creatures and took off at an alarmingly slow speed. The horses were basic trail horses that went on the same trail 14,000

times a day and were not in great shape to begin with. I think they have been trained not to respond to stimulation at all so that new riders won't confuse them. Too bad for me though. Mine's name was Sweet Potato and Matt named his, "Wow I'm Stupid." His horse didn't like him very much.

After that we had tea time on the ranch which consisted of coffee with milk, a cookie, and three little baby croissants. It was great, but after the big lunch I wasn't very hungry. Right as we were finishing our lunch, the lady told us that she was going to go milk a cow, but when we got out there to see, it was like an automated pump thing, not really her milking a cow. Sad day.

We got back on the bus to go home, full of lunch, coffee, cookies, and experiences. I was a real American and listened to my iPod for a while and most of us fell asleep. Listening to Spanish and being up and around all day are exhausting for college kids, anyone I would imagine.

As we were riding along happily, getting close to home, one of our tires like had a blow out so we got delayed. Everyone was safe; it was just a loud noise and about a thirty minute wait. When we got home, Matt, Jaimie, Amanda and I got out to look for some food. They found some (I was still full) and then we watched Aladdin. I made the mistake of drinking mate (the communal pass around drink stuff) with Matt throughout the whole movie, so naturally when I was ready to go to bed I was like on crack. I didn't sleep too well last night because of that.

Today we just went to church and then went book shopping at the street market thing. I found some really cool old-looking books, but didn't want to put any of them in my suitcase, so I didn't buy anything. I am looking forward to our 9 O'Clock service tonight with our group. Matt, Abel, Wimon, and I are the planning committee for the Sunday night services. I find that being on that committee reminds me of my chaplain duties last year at school and I really like that.

Anyways, looking forward to a non-eventful and mate-free night! :P

New Video! LP in Montevideo!

Here's the brief history of the Legislative Palace in Uruguay!

Aerobica!!

Hey y'all. It just felt so good to say that. Sometimes I miss English. I mean I speak in English most of the time at the house when I am talking to other students, but we are using more and more Span-glish as the time goes on.

Today was a lovely day here in Montevideo. It was a little cold but not unbearable. We got up this morning and had PChem and then I had some free time to do homework and clean up and such. I sat in my room drawing molecules for Biochem for like an hour. What a glorious life I lead. :)

This afternoon we found out that we didn't have Spanish class today because our teacher was sick. In the hospital to be precise, but we don't know what is going on with her. Please pray that she is okay and that it is not a serious condition. Without Spanish this afternoon or our special class tomorrow, I don't have class until Monday afternoon! It's crazy to have this much free time and I am not used to it.

I don't go out alone into Montevideo because we were cautioned against it, so when just about everyone else is in class, I use the time to study so that I can go out when everyone else wants to.

This afternoon, Josh and I went out to a Pentecostal church to do some research for our religion project. We walked in and it was very strange. The pastor was just praying out loud at the front (in Spanish of course) and various people walked in. One lady came and talk to us, but I didn't understand very much of what she was saying. I told her that we are from the States and were here to study in Montevideo and she welcomed us, but then took her seat again. It was an interesting experience for sure.

Then tonight, Dara, Linley and I went to the gym for our aerobics class and it was exciting again. The music is like pumping and they are so enthused that you want to do your best for them because they are so excited. Val, the instructor remembered me from last week and came up and tried her English on me. It was great. She's super nice and really likes us. I told her that there were only the three of us tonight and she looked sad. She asked like, "Where are some the others?" and I tried hard to slow my English down for her, but we have some give and take with language. It's fun to have someone try hard to speak English as you are trying hard to speak Spanish to them.

After workout, we grabbed some pizza at Castrobo's near Casa and came home to eat it. A little while later, Taylor, Abel, Matt, Josh, Allie, Joyce, Karoline, Rachel and I watched The Fern Gully and laughed a lot.

Tomorrow, again, I have no class! But I do have to get up at 8 to help with breakfast, but then I can sleep and do homework all day! Sounds delightful doesn't it.

It's a funny thing studying abroad. Mostly because the studying makes it hard to be abroad and the being abroad makes it hard to study. There is this tension and this line of engagement in studies and engagement in class that is hard to walk. I think I am walking it well so far, I just hope that the pressure in my classes is not too inversely proportional to the amount of cultural engagement I dive into. I beg your indulgences, I can only do so much PChem in one day without it getting to other areas of my brain.

PS I have a good video that I want to put up, so look for that coming soon!

So much to write about...so little time!

It's been such an amazing couple of days since I last wrote. Knock on wood, I am really hitting my stride here and having a great time doing it.

Yesterday, we had class (pchem) and then I did some homework. After an amazing lunch, once again, I had class at the Catholic University and had a fairly good day for my Spanish. I have found once again that my language ability to comprehend and respond in one fluid motion, so to speak, comes and goes. One day I will be blabbing along and the next day it's like someone has come in with a lasso and tied my tongue to the top of my mouth, nothing makes sense and even less comes out. I hope that tomorrow is a good day because we have to go back to the University.

Then last night we had to do some research for our religion project and it was interesting. We are finding churches in the area and having a hard time doing that. But we will get it done, well, we have to by Friday!

Then today before class we went to the Alianza which is like an learning place for Uruguayos to learn about American language and culture. We have a chance to volunteer to lead groups and help out there this semester. I was really impressed with the place and think I will go back this semester to check it out a little more.

Then on the way back from the Alianza, we passed a street vendor that was selling jerseys for the Uruguayan team that we were going to see today. So Abel, Allie, and I got a jersey each and we were so excited to wear them to the game.

But before the game we went to the legislative palace where the Senate and the House meet. There was a wonderful library and it was absolutely beautiful. It is all basically made out of marble and granite. It was designed by an Italian architect and finished in 1825. It was not just build, but I want to say sculpted because it was so beautiful inside. The intricacy of the building and the fixtures was unsurpassed by most of the things that I have seen in the world. Pictures will be better on facebook because I had to turn my flash off and didn't get very good pictures at all.

After our tour we got in a taxi, 4 at a time and went down to the stadium! We got there quite early, but we took pictures and it was good to have a bit of down time. The game started and it was fairly quiet, but as the match went on it got a bit crazier. I loved the songs and chants (most of them) and got some video recording that might or might not make it up on the internet, depending on my free time and homework in the next couple of weeks. When the sun went down it got pretty cold. The tights, jeans, long sleeve t-shirt, jersey, sweatshirt, wind-breaker, gloves, scarf, and hat were all essential and didn't feel like enough some times. It was so much fun though. I hope to make it to some other game this semester, but we will see. Really, I wasn't expecting to enjoy actually watching the game but it was fun. The fans made the whole experience though!

Today was such a full day and I am excited to be able to share it with you. We get to have a bit more sleep tomorrow because our chapel/family meeting was cancelled! Hurray! I have a lot of Spanish homework to do (hurray for two two-hundred word essays) and some P.Chem to check for tomorrows class. I hope this finds you all well and happy. Thanks for the support and comments!

Tango Tango Tango

Today was quite interesting. I had to get up for the chapel and family meeting this morning and then I went back to bed because we didn't get into bed until quite late last night. Well, honestly, we were in bed, but we didn't go to sleep until well, late.

So after I woke up for the second time, I got ready and did homework because I don't have class on Monday morning. I knew at that point that the house smelt really good, but I didn't realize the whole scope of what was taking place in the kitchen. Raquel, our cook that just got back from a vacation in Texas, was cooking fajitas! It was amazing! We had guacamole and salsa and everything! You might be asking, aren't those everywhere? But no. I am not in Mexico, spicy food is unheard of here. It's good, but not spicy. So it was good to have a little burn in my mouth.

Then I went to biochem and international studies where we talked about the conquest of the Americas and all that jazz. It is a really sad story the way that the author in our textbook paints it. Sure it was a great thing for Europe but for the people's here, not so much.

We had a little break and then the real party began. We had our tango lesson! First we sat down and heard the history of it and that was interesting. The place of birth of the famous Charles Gardel, the first man who recorded a tango, is disputed between France, Argentina, and Uruguay, so we obviously learned the Uruguayan version of the story. Then we learned the walk of the tango, then the steps, then the embrace or the position and then we put it all together. What was ACU thinking? You might ask, well, this is a big part of their culture and honestly, the way that the arms are connected, you have room for another invisible person in the position. Wimon told us to "leave room for Jesus." We all danced together and there were a couple more Uruguayan guys to help out originally 2-1 Girls to guys ratio.

We went out for empanadas afterword, took a couple of videos, and Matt and I drank some mate. That stuff has like caffeine or something in it because it keeps me up. Taylor isn't going to let me have any after nine o-clock in the future so that I can get more sleep. The thing is that is a social sharing thing. You just pass it back and forth and enjoy it cup by cup. That's not good because you never know just how much you are having!

Oh well, I may be up for a while, but it was a good night!

El Fin de Semana

(P.S. For all your North Americans reading this, the title means "The Weekend.") Entonces...

I didn't realize that it had been so long since I had written. So we will start with Friday. Friday, I didn't have class, so I got up about 11:00AM. Which was lovely. I did some Physical Chemistry homework and chilled up in the TV loft until people got out of class. Then we had lunch at Casa. Since it was most inconveniently raining, we watched Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade. I had never seen an Indiana Jones movie before (I know...American scandal) and I liked it. After that we took a walk around town to look for some yarn and a couple of other things. For those of you who don't know, knitting is a really good way for me to relax and get my mind off of stressful things, so I brought my needles down here, but needed some yarn. I got some beautiful, soft, fat, blue yarn for about U$S 6 and didn't realize just how much I had gotten. My Spanish ability comes and goes in waves and I had no idea how much I was getting for my money. ANYWAYS...

We then took a walk over to the Catholic University where some of us take Spanish. When we got there we saw some signs for an audition, we figured we would check it out. The sign said they needed actors, so we stopped by. We talked to them for a while and found out that they were casting for three short films and that they would let us be extras. How fun is that!

After that, we walked home and chilled and watched Anastasia that night. So fun. Then we played a bit of Taboo and it was really funny. We kept trying to use the spanish words, but of course, that is illegal.

Saturday, we all slept late (lucky for me I got two days) and when we finally got up, we grabbed some lunch and started a project for our international studies course. I am assigned to a group that has to walk about the area we live in looking for churches and write essays on them. It's interesting, but our area is a little bit big, but there aren't hardly any churches to be found. We'll work more on that later. In the afternoon, some of the students, Dr. Sutherlin, and the Walkers went down to a local like art-craft-fair thing. I decided that I needed some quiet time and I was so glad that I took it. So very glad. I got to talk to my family for like over an hour and that is time that I needed too.

Then last night, we went out into the courtyard of our building and drank mate (a local coffee-like drink) and sang church songs for a long while. We had a great time harmonizing and it was just flowing. It was so cool. It's fairly cold here, so the singing, hot drink, sweatshirt, and cold air made for like the perfect night.

Today, Dara, Linley, Taylor, Lauren and I went to a Catholic Mass for church and it was really interesting. Then Linley, Taylor and I went to lunch at the pizza place that I already told you about (so delicious and cheap). Then Matt, Abel, Lauren, Ben, Taylor and Rachel and I went to the Ferreia, like a street/flea market, but it was closing down by the time we got there. Matt and I got kind of separated from the whole group and walked around and looked at books for a while. Then we took a detour on the way home to do more walking of our neighborhood for the aforementioned religion project. Matt and I get along well, so the time passed quickly.

Tonight, we had singing with the youth of the church at five, and then Josh, Dara, Linley, Lauren, Amanda, Matt, and I went out with the youth to a mall and hung out for a while. We made it back in time for our 9 o'clock worship with the whole study abroad group. We talked about hospitality and I got to think about Samoa again...ahhh...

Then some of us went out for ice cream and we have called it a night. I know there is a lot of fact and it sounds like a schedule, but most of the inside jokes we have created, my sweet readers, you would not understand. I am having the time of my life. I can't wait to come back and tell these stories, and more, in person!

Tan Bueno

Hola mis amigos y hermanos!

!Tuve un buen tiempo este semana porque hizo tan muchos cosas con mis amigos Americano y Uruguayos! (I have had a good week this week because I have done so many things with my American and Uruguayan friends.)

I am sorry that it has been a couple of days since I wrote. I have had so much to do and think about this week. First of all, we will start with the tour of Montevideo on Wednesday afternoon.

It was really fun, but very long. We all pilled into a bus and situated ourselves for the three hour long bus ride. I thought it was going to shorter, but it takes a lot of time to get all around the city to the different points of interest. We visited the oldest cemetery in the area, the port of Montevideo, the cerro or hill that gives Montevideo its name (monte=mountain or hill), and various monuments and famous places in the city. We got out at a couple of places, but for the most part we were on the bus. It was cold and wet outside the bus and nice and dry and warm inside the bus, so naturally, a bunch of worn out 20-somethings (or almosts) found it very difficult to stay awake for the duration of the program.

After that we booked it (got there fast) to the gym where we did step class. This was VERY difficult, not because it was in Spanish and not because I am out of shape, but just because I am not coordinated enough to do all of that. I think I liked aerobics better, but they were both challenging.

Today we got up and had chapel and talked about some more housekeeping types of things. Then our director surprised us and Rosalinda had made zucchini bread for us! So good! After physical chemistry, I did some more homework for Spanish that afternoon. After lunch, we left for the University, about a 20-25 minute walk if you are going directly. We had oral presentations today, all in Spanish. Mine was about Tom Hanks and it went really well. My teacher and I agreed that the movie, "You've Got Mail" or "Tienes Correo" was a very nice/pretty/cute movie. The word used was "lindo" that means something like a mixture of those three words. After being force fed Spanish for three hours, we went to the big nice grocery store. It has the "Imported/Foreign Food" Section so that was fun.

Tonight we had an English conversation lab thing for people at the church and it was a lot of fun. We had three Uruguayos at our table and one didn't like to speak English at all. I think in the hour we were there he said like 10 words in Spanish. They are so graceful about helping me with my Spanish. I love talking to them. After that we went out and got pizza. The whole bill, for ten of us, was something like US$17. Awesome!

Now I am chilling in my room and wondering what the fin de semana, the weekend, will hold. I don't have any classes tomorrow. I think that Abel and I are going to go shopping and to the Cambio to change money some time in the morning, but not too sure when. I hope to have more pictures after this weekend.

Love yall!

Universidad and Aerobics Fun

Hey there readers!

Thanks so much for keeping up with me. It's great to know that I have people back home cheering me on.

Yesterday was such an exciting day that I was so tired when I got home that I couldn't even keep my eyes open to write on here last night. I am also trying to keep a personal journal and that requires some discipline in itself. I started as a real foreign exchange student yesterday at the Catholic University for my intermediate Spanish class. Our teacher was quite intense. I think she said one word to us in English and that is because she slipped. There are only four students in that class, so we get to talk a lot. We read in Spanish, conversed a lot with her, and wrote and essay. We were assigned several things for homework but that is good I suppose. I am anticipating a very busy semester academically, but it's all good.

Last night we went and joined the gym that Autumn, my teacher, was a part of the last time that she was here. We went to the aerobica (aerobics) class last night and had a blast trying to figure out what was going on. The room was quite small and there were probably thirty or forty people in there doing aerobics. I ended up at the front and made less of a fool of myself than expected. It was so much fun. I think I will get better at my left and rights in Spanish for sure! I think step class is tonight and that will be even more fun than aerobics!

Today I have my first quiz in Biochem and have been studying and doing homework all morning long. After biochem this afternoon we are going on a bus tour of Montevideo which should be interesting. I am excited to see more of the city!

I would like to send a shout out to two of my best friends in the world back in Abilene: Lacy and Collin, happy 21st birthday! I am sorry I had to miss it to be here, but I love y'all and am thinking about you all day! Don't go too crazy!

I can't believe that it's already September! Crazy! Keep me in your prayers for the rest of this amazing semester in another part of God's world!