Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

I am always amazed at how quick time passes and before I know it, I’m really far behind on my blog once again. So here is a quick recap of the past two weeks.

When we got back Sunday, I met a friend to drink Mate on the Rambla. When I got back, I met Melissa's sister who was visiting for a few days. We ordered pizza and hung out.

On Monday night we cooked a cake for Jonas’s birthday the next day. Unfortunately, we did not realize that the oven only had one temperature and we burnt 90% of the cake. We got creative and cut of the only edible part. We covered it in dulce de leche and called it good. 

After we finished the cake, I went over to my friend Mari’s house for a sleepover. It was really fun and I felt like a kid again. She and her family were helping me get ready for my presentation in my recreation class the next day. They were extremely nice, welcoming and funny. Once again, I am reminded how lucky I am to have met such great people here who are willing to share their lives with me.

My game went well on Tuesday which was exciting. Everyone really liked it. We celebrated Jonas’s birthday at lunch, everyone laughed at our cake but luckily it still tasted pretty good.

On Wednesday we took a tour of the SODRE, which is one of the theaters in Montevideo. We got to  sit in on an Opera rehearsal for a little while.

Later that night, after my last class, we had a get together with all of the international students. We ate homemade pizzas slow cooked over the fire which were absolutely incredible and we had some great conversation. I wish the International Office organized more get togethers or activities for us to do because they are always so much fun.

On Thursday, we met up with Santiago and Jonas to check out a local restaurant. It is super close by and there are games to play while you’re waiting! We played Jenga and it was a blast. After we ate, we went to back to Jonas’s apartment and ended up chatting until 3 in the morning. (P.S. Maya's sister Holly, and her mom are in town!)

"If you hate Justin Bieber, but money here"

Friday, we went to our friend’s house to watch a French movie with Spanish subtitles. It’s called The Intouchables and I highly recommend you watch it, it’s fantastic!

Later that night, Maya and I had some of our Uruguayan friends over. We played some more Jenga and chatted. It ended up being another late night (4 am) but once again, a fun one.

I took a bike tour of Montevideo on Saturday with Celia and Axele. It lasted for 3 and half hours and we stopped at 6 museums. It was quite interesting but I was really hoping to be on the bike more, seeing the city.

Later that night, we headed to Jonas’s house to celebrate his birthday.

On Sunday, we caught up on homework and got ready for the week ahead.

On a whim on Monday I decided to go to a free Tango class with a friend. I was terrible but who is surprised. Aside from the one creepy guy, it was really fun and a great experience.

Tuesday, I went out to eat with some friends. We went to Subway which was a bizarre experience. Inside the building looks identical to any other Subway I have ever been in. I seriously could have been home. Also, the sandwich was amazing. In general, I do like the food here, but its amazing how comforting familiar flavors are to me.

That night, all of the international students decided to have a potluck, each bringing food from their respective county. I made my mom’s sweet potato and apple dish. I had to skype my mom into the kitchen to make sure I did it right. In the end, it turned out pretty good but obviously nowhere close to the one my mom makes. Despite the lack of quality, it was still nice to have the tastes of home. I also really enjoyed trying everyone else’s food. It was a neat opportunity to share a little piece of where we are from with each other.

I went to school early on Wednesday to meet up with my friends from my recreation class. I had a presentation in my Spanish class and wanted their help correcting it. They had a lot of fun watching me actively process the language. When they corrected me, I would try and fix the other similar errors ahead of time. They also really enjoyed my questions about the genders of words. For them, its natural but for me, I try and rationalize or systemize the process.

Overall, my presentation went fairly well. After class, we had to quick rush to the Teatro Solis for a tour with my Uruguayan culture class. Unfortunately, we arrive really late and only caught the last 5 minutes of the tour.

After the tour, we walked to a nearby café to hang out.

Thursday, I had a surprise exam in my recreation class but I think it went alright. The first part was individual, responding to a few questions. The second part was group work. First, we were given 6 separate sheets of paper. On one piece we had to write the name of a game, any made up name. One the second piece, we had to make up a rule for the game. On the following pieces of paper we wrote a place where the game takes place, materials needed, and number of people needed. The instructions were to be as outrageous as possible. We all handed in our slips and then each group had to go up and pick a slip from each pile. In the end, we were left with 6 new pieces of paper with the structure of a game. From there, we had to create a game using all of the pieces we were given. It was actually really fun and it was amazing how creative everyone one was with just a few guidelines.

When I got home I had a card from Steph and the world's most amazing package waiting for me!

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE MOMS COOKIES

And there you have it. My two weeks in a nutshell! How were yours?

Just a Small Town Girl

Friday I went to a tango show, which really ended up being live music with one or two dances. Afterwards, I went to a costume party which was a blast. Melissa and I dueled as Power Rangers (you have to get creative when you only brought a suitcase of clothes with you). Surprisingly, the majority of people were able to guess what we were!

Saturday I hung out with Santiago and got to know some of his friends.

On Sunday, we went to the Clasico. This is one of the biggest soccer games of the year. Penarol and Nacional face off (the two biggest teams in Uruguay with a Packer Viking type rivalry), winner gets bragging rights for the season. We sat on the Penarol side which was a good choice, seeing as they won 5-0. This game is usually really dangerous; people have literally been killed leaving the stadium. Thankfully, we didn’t experience any type of violence.

On Monday, my Spanish class went to another museum. It was really pretty.

Wednesday, I went to another museum for my culture class. I swear by the end of the semester I will have been to every museum in the city but that’s pretty cool.

On Thursday I didn’t have class because it was National Workers Day. Literally everything shuts down; there aren’t even busses or taxis. If a job requires you to work, the employer is required to pay double the wages.  Laura, Melissa, Maya, Alex Sweeny (our old roommate from England) and I decided to take advantage of the extra day off. We loaded up the car and headed out to Piriapolis, a small town an hour away from Montevideo. Laura has a friend that owns a house there. We rented it out for the weekend. It was such an amazing time. For 3 days, we were completely disconnected. No internet, no TV, and most of all not a word of English. For 3 days, I didn’t hear, speak, or read an English sentence. It was wonderful.

Piriapolis is one of the only places in Uruguay with a non-flat landscape. There are several hills that you can climb. I didn’t realize just how much I miss the landscape of Wisconsin until I got a little taste of it again. I am really missing just living among nature. I didn’t realize how much it is a part of my everyday life until I’ve had to live without it. Luckily, Montevideo has beaches that have allowed me to appreciate nature’s beauty in a new way but it’s still not the same.

So we got to the house and the gate was locked from the inside. We had no other way to get in other than me climbing the fence and hopping through the barbed wire to the other side. 

Once we got inside the fence, Laura tried to open the door. After trying all the keys and all the doors, she called the owner. Turns out we were at the wrong house and I accidentally broke and entered. Oops..

Along with being immersed in some sort of familiar nature, it was nice to be a more relaxed setting. Don’t get me wrong, I am in love with the city of Montevideo and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but big city life is something that I am not fully used to. I love and have taken advantage of all the amazing opportunities living in a big city presents but I often long for something a little less overwhelming.

I have never really considered myself a small town girl but coming here makes me realize just how much I feel out of place. From little things, like learning how to constantly be aware of all of the traffic in the streets to big things like the culture of a big city, I am constantly reminded.

Although I like, and am getting used to life here, there things that I desperately miss from my little Holmen/Eau Claire. Most of all, I am constantly thankful for the childhood I had growing up where I did. I unknowingly learned an abundance of life skills just by growing up in a small town and around nature.

Another tangent: Not only I am learning a lot about the Uruguayan culture, I am learning so much about my own culture in Wisconsin. By being exposed to another culture so different from my own, I am given a new vantage point on the way we do things in Wisconsin. Things I have never paid attention to like how we great each other or the difference in personal space. Also, I’m learning how different the culture varies from state to state. Melissa (from North Carolina), Maya (born in DC and goes to school in the LA area) and I have talked a lot about the cultural differences between our states. I’ll start talking about a food and they have never heard about it before or a part of my daily routine that they didn’t think people actually did. It’s been a great learning experience. People who say that all Americans are the same are completely wrong. Each state/region hast their own culture and traditions.

I feel like I haven’t adequately explained myself. I am truly fascinated by this topic and would to delve deeper into it with better examples of the types of things I am noticing. Unfortunately, like I mentioned last blog, English is getting harder and harder for me. I find myself struggling to come up the word I am looking for (the other day I forgot the word ‘insult’ for 2 minutes. I kept asking, what the heck do you call the opposite of a compliment?!) or the right way to express my thoughts. This is an extremely uncomfortable and frustrating feeling. Now, I am not able to fully express my thoughts in Spanish or English. It makes me feel a little trapped in my own head. I’m sure it’s just some sort of language learning process that I’ll get over. Hopefully!