Estoy Aqui!

Hola y Bienvenidos a Montevideo, Uruguay conmigo!

Porque estamos en Uruguay necesito habla en espanol solamente. ?Ta?

(Because we are in Urguay, I need to speak only spanish. Ok?)

No just kidding. I thought it might be fun to have a little spanish intro for all you blessed bilinguals out there. I hope that everyone's day is going well, but since this is my blog I am going to talk about what my day has been like!

We said a good farewell to Abilene yesterday at 11:00AM and got to DFW about 1:00PM. We were questioned about our visas and got all of that cleared up in time for our 5:00PM (CST) flight.

We then went to Miami and had some Cuban food at the airport. I had a turkey sandwich. Ok, not for more pertinent information.

We boarded the flight and then were told that we were actually going to Montevideo instead of BA as originally planned. So the Montevideo-bound passengers were elated. The BA-bound were quite upset.

I got some good Spanish practice on the flight. The lady next to me was from Argentina and the lady on the other side of my study abroad friend Jamie was from Uruguay. Jamie's new friend spoke only Spanish.

I had taken two advil PM in order to help me sleep but in the middle of the night there was this lady behind me that decided to stick her foot between Gracie's and my seats and flail her foot around a bit, knocking over my Sprite. So then I was awake and I decided to go ahead and walk in order to avoid the much dreaded and potentially fatal DVT (deep vein thrombosis [blood clots in your leg that break off and travel to heart, lungs, kindeys, etc.]). So I was getting up and Jamie's friend asked nicely, "?Pasar?"

I responded mentally, "Why the heck are you speaking Spanish to me? I just woke up and my brain is not on. Being bilingual requires my brain." Then I remembered, "Oh, you don't speak English. Perfect. Okay, brain, please turn on, Spanish, please!" So I responded, after a short blank stare, "Si. Por favor."

Did I mention that our flight was supposed to stop for three hours in Buenos Aires but they rerouted the flight and took us straight to Montevideo? Oh, yeah. That happened and we got to Casa early. Awesome.

We had a great lunch of empanadas (pastry things: Delicious) and then headed out for a scavenger hunt in Montevideo. We walked the whole way and it was great. My main observation is that this is a big city. On the order of New York City. It smells like a city too.

Anyway, we got some time to rest after that and then went to dinner at Marcada de Abundancia. We got to go shopping when we first got there. We were too early for dinner: 7:30PM was too early. We finally sat down to eat about 8:15 I suppose and we weren't joined by any other dinner guests until like 9:00PM. I can't wait until I am adjusted enough not to be hungry until 9:00PM. Crazy! I had a chivito which is like a steak with mozerella cheese and ham and a fried egg on top of it, all on top of a giant bed of french fries served with mayo and a small salad. It was crazy good, but crazy high calorie too. We are going to find a gym...tomorrow! :)

Then we took another crazy taxi ride back to Casa and he didn't know where we were trying to go and didn't speak any English. We got some practice and some at dinner too because I sat by Sandra, an Uruguayan lady that works with our program and she said I needed to practice. After that point, naturally, she refused to say anything in English to me. Praise God! This is what I need to take the next step towards fluency!

When we got back, we went on a brief adventure through the house/building and found the workout room. Good thing. Then we talked for a while and the girls really bonded a bit more.

I can see that God is working out wonderful and amazing things for this trip and the group that I am with. I pray that He remains visible in our lives and that we don't become so busy in learning this culture that we forget the One who sent each of us here.