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!
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