Last day of work / Jo's last night

My time here really is drawing near to an end now. Yesterday I had my last day of work and this morning Jo left for Ecuador. Now all I have left from the initial group who was here from Adelante are Ryan and Kendall. And I need to start packing!!

I went into work yesterday after walking around for awhile with Kendall to find the local Harley Davidson store. I was at work for about 30 mintues when my boss, Miguel, came by and said that they were bringing in a new computer to my desk for one of my coworkers to use. I told him that if I was given the e-mail, I could e-mail him my English-Spanish transcription work and it could be my last day at work since I was finished already.

I stuck around while they installed the computer to talk to them and then I had all of my coworkers take a picture with me. They may be chatty cathys and talk and drink mate more than they work, but they are still very friendly people and I intend to stay in touch with them. Valentin has relatives in San Antonio and she promised me that she will e-mail me if she comes to visit. They invited me to have gnoccis on Friday since it will be the 29th of the month (it's a big deal to have gnoccis only on the 29th,) so I will see them one last time. It can be my packing break.

Last night pretty much everyone from the school went out for Jo's last night to Baar Fun Fun. I even talked Walter, one of the sponsors here with the high schoolers, into going. Everyone came...Linda, Walter, Jo, Tito (the cab driver she made friends with here...oh Jo,) Haylee, Igor, Kendall, Ryan, Rachelle and Rafael. Rosanna was there singing like she always does Wednesday night. She is so good! We were there for several hours relaxing and having wine. It's Jo's favorite place to go and she went every Wednesday night so I had to go there with her on her last night.

Afterwards of course she wanted to go to Peoni Pisador, a boliche/bar that is not too far away in Ciudad Vieja. There was a live band there playing salsa and tango music. They even played a couple English songs (even though they'd make of the words-it was hilarious.) Haylee, Walter and I ended up staying out until 4. It was a lot of fun. I actually gave my real number to a guy there. I figured it was one of my last nights out in Montevideo and we had been laughing at each other while we danced for awhile. His name is Nico. He was very complimentary (all the Latin men are.) He asked me to go to the theater Saturday night. I didn't have the heart to tell him I was leaving. Oh my goodness, I'm leaving!!

Stephen, the older businessman here, wanted me to go with him to Punta del Este the other day to go out to the nicest restaurant in Uruguay. I felt really guilty when I heard that he had waited to make plans with me all the night before and the next morning. But this morning I heard that he never came back last night and now I don't feel so bad. There are several creepy men here. Last night Igor got drunk and was hitting on me so terribly that he tried to play footsies. ugh. There's a new older guy here who smokes weed and is usually drunk who apparently enjoys looking at me. Great. It's a blessing and a curse to be a young woman.

I think I am about to go to see a museum with Walter. The high schoolers are leaving for Buenos Aires tomorrow. I just gave one of the sponsors tips. I feel like an old-timer here now telling them where they should go and do here and in South America. It's a good feeling. Tonight the high schoolers are putting on a play. It's the last night I will see them. It all really is coming to an end!

Jasmine leaves

Jasmine is gone!!! Today was sooo sad. It had never hit me that she was leaving until we started walking away from the school to go home from her saying bye to the students and teachers there. I went to work an hour late after having a glass of wine. Neither of us could believe that our 2 months of Uruguay were at an end. At some points it seemed to drag on forever, and then towards the end it went much too fast.

Last night Haylee (new girl with Adelante from Cali,) Stephen (from Austrailia,) Walter (with the high schoolers from Virginia,) Jasmine and later Ryan and Kendall went out to the Radisson (the best hotel here) to hang out for Jasmine's last night. It was really nice. They had a piano bar and Stephen got some champagne for us. We talked about our experiences in Montevideo and what we liked and didn't like. It was really nice. A great last night for my roomie.

Afterwards we walked around in Ciudad Vieja and then went to have hot chocolate and waffles with dulce de leche on 18 de Julio. This morning Jasmine and I took a picture with Maria and after she said her goodbyes she was gone. Stephen wants to take me out somewhere nice before I go, but other than that I am counting down the days. It's just not the same without my roomie!!

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires was amazing. Even though it is about 7 times as large as Montevideo, there wasn’t any dog crap on the sidewalks and the air was incredibly clean. It was also very European. For me it was a cross between New York City and Rome. There are Italian restaurants everywhere. It made me miss Europe.

We left for BA via Buquebus at 7 a.m. Friday. We had to take a 2 ½ hour bus to Colonia and then took an hour ferry to BA. We all slept the entire time. We purchased a package at Buquebus that included a hotel stay with transporation to and from the hotel. It was a pretty nice hotel with four beds. They had advertised that they spoke English, but of course they didn’t. They were still super nice so we can’t complain.

After checking in we just walked around BA. We saw the Obelisk which is the landmark of the city in the center of their main street. Then we walked to Plaza Mayo where the Pink Palace (their government building,) cabildo and main cathedral are. We also walked along the port and eventually went to eat at Friday’s which is near the green Mother’s Bridge (which reminded me of the millennium bridge in London.) It was nice to all sit down and eat American food together. However, we all had shakes and they didn’t end up making us feel too well. Kendall was really sick by the end.

We went to the Buquebus headquarters 3 times to try to find Norma (the woman who works at the Spanish school here) to ask here where the cheap places were to buy Puma, Polo, etc. She works at immigration at the Buquebus port, but we never did find Norma. We did go to a huge mall there (where I ate Chinese-it was a big deal.)

Saturday morning we got up early to go on a 3 hour city tour. It was a pretty nice tour. We went to see La Boca where there are colorful buildings and old tango bars, we went to Plaza Mayo again, went to La Recoleta, and through several neighborhoods. Jasmine and I got off at Recoleta to go to the huge cemetery that is there. She is a crazy independent New Yorker and would just walk off so we ended up splitting up because I wanted to go in the old Spanish church. The cemetery was stunning. The Recoleta cemetery is where all the rich of BA are buried in huge houses. Many of the graves have plants growing inside of them. I got lost in the cemetery, but eventually I found Evita Peron’s grave. Apparently her being buried there is extremely controversial because she was not rich or of one of the famous BA surnames.

Eventually I ran into Jasmine in the cemetery and we walked to see the solar flower. It is one of the signatures of BA in addition to the Obelisk. It was designed by an Argentine architect. It is a huge steel flower with petals that is solar powered and opens up during the day and closes at night. Jasmine went off again and we ended up walking all around the flower. New Yorkers; they’re crazy. Or maybe I’m just a Southern Belle. Stephen from the school here always calls me “princess.” All I know is that I would have never just walked off on my own if I was with someone else…I just don’t get it. They did say this program was 50% Cultural immersion.

After walking around in Recoleta we walked to meet Ryan and Kendall at the Zoo at another end of the city. We walked for what seemed like forever. They have a subway system in BA, but it doesn’t go to some parts of the city like Recoleta. Line A of the subway is actually the oldest in South America and the carts were wooden and looked like they really were from the late 1800s.

Jasmine and I couldn’t find Ryan and Kendall when we got there so we decided to go inside since we had walked all that way. The zoo was incredible. They had all sorts of animals. It was kind of annoying that you had to pay extra to see the aquarium, rainforest, etc, but I’m glad I went in all the same. There were animals just walking around everywhere. I have never seen so many peacocks, and never seen so many chased. The S. American kids were hilarious chasing animals and feeding any animals that were fenced. I felt sorry for some of the animals. We went into the aquarium and I wanted to cry. They had about 4 penguins and their habitat smelled bad and was much too warm. They looked so miserable, especially comparing it to the penguins in South America. The polar bear was completely out. I think they had drugged it. It was a ghetto, but still an amazing zoo. I had lost Jasmine at some point and found her when it started to get incredibly cold.

We went to eat at Hard Rock Café that night. I always went to Hard Rock with my friends while we were touring Europe when we could find it, so it was wonderful to go to one. It was nice to hear rock music that wasn’t in Spanish too. Jasmine got a migraine so we didn’t end up going out, but BA had ended up being more expensive that I had thought so I was fine with it.

We walked around for a couple hours the next day after having a long breakfast at the hotel. Everyone followed my lead in eating bread with dulce de leche and kept going back for more. It’s so good! We walked back around the Obelisk and the large mall to find souvenirs and then went back to the hotel to be taken back to the port to go back to Montevideo.

We did NOT want to go back to Montevideo where the air is dirty, there’s dog crap and trash everywhere, and people think it’s too cold to go out (although I can’t really blame them-winter has definitely arrived.)

On the bus from Colonia there was a guy from Florida dissing the states to a guy from Brazil in English so Kendall said something to him and his response was, “well I hate Bush and I hope he’s assassinated.” Wow. Buenos Aires had Argentinian flags flying all over the city. Most countries in Europe were the same way and had a lot of national pride. I know most Americans are disappointed with Bush, but I think we don’t have enough national pride. I am going to buy an American flag when I get back.

Today is Jasmine’s last day here. This morning she packed while I worked on writing for the blog and catching up on my journal. I can’t believe she is leaving tomorrow! Maria pretty much told me that I did something to her hot water bottle that she sometimes gives me on cold nights. I hadn’t used it last week so I have no idea where it could be. Jasmine said she just switched some around and she is probably just trying to get me to buy her a new one. I don’t know. Oh Maria!

Latin Men

Latin men, like Italian men, are usually depicted as wildly romantic tall, dark and handsome types. When I studied abroad in Florence I couldn’t wait to get away from the greasy and skinny Italian men. For the majority, they were not cute at all and instead of being suave they were creepy and would either yell at you, stalk you for a couple blocks or grab you if you resembled a female. I made the same kind of discoveries with Latin men.

I have been out with my friends from the school a few times to go to the boliches or just out on the town. I’ve seen and met several locals. On the whole Latin men here in Montevideo are better looking than the men in Italy. They aren’t all dark, tall and handsome though. A lot of them look so American or European that I’m tempted to talk to them in English. *Note the picture of one of the bolder locals*

I’m not interested in meeting a guy in a different country. I’ve only really talked to one guy, Alan, who works at a pharmacy in Pocitos. He’s nice and knows a little English. We just text every now and then half in Spanish and half in English every now and then, but I’m not planning on meeting up with him before I leave. He looks incredibly American in the first place.

If any girls do come here looking for a Latin Lover, Buenos Aires has the more aggressive men. Montevideo is a great deal more conservative than its neighbor and the guys here a lot more timid. It’s a huge deal for them to walk up to you. They usually try talking to you if you are walking past by pulling you away from the group you’re with. I’ve only had a couple guys come up to me and ask me for a drink. It simply isn’t done in Montevideo very often. However, in Buenos Aires there is a huge European influence that continues in the men. They act very Italian and will come up to you and grab you. So if you want a Latin Lover, head to Buenos Aires.

Enough of Latin men. Yesterday morning I walked to Ciudad Vieja to buy the rest of the souvenirs I needed. It was a nice, long walk there, but on the way back it started pouring rain. By the time I got home I was completely soaked. It was great. Then I went to work for the first time this week. Florencia randomly told me that I had an interview at the Spanish school at 6:30, when I usually get off work. Fernando (the Adelante director here) works doing PR kind of stuff where I work and picked me up at 6:30. He explained to me something completely different than what happened.

He interview was random and happened much later than they said (of course.) Kendall was at work, but they wanted Ryan, Jasmine and I to sit down with all the people from my work (they publish several prestigious magazines here) for an article. Miguel, my 70-year-old creepy boss, walked into Jo’s room where Jasmine was straightening her hair twice to get her to come down. Old men are so creepy here. Rodrigo, a local who’s about my age, had a friend over that kept stalking me around the school. It was such a hilarious experience. Eventually they got us all in a room and Florencia asked us questions about why we came here, what we thought of the people, etc. Then they took pictures of us (I looked like a drowned rat from walking in the rain earlier, mind you) and the interview was over. It was so strange.

Yesterday was so random. After walking around in the rain, having a random interview at the school and whatever else, Jasmine had randomly texted me that I was going to go with her and Stephen to dinner at the one Mexican restaurant in Montevideo. So we randomly went to the restaurant at 9 and Kendall and Ryan met us later. Stephen covered Jasmine and I. He wants to take me to the piano bar at the Radisson, the best hotel here, sometime. He’s an older businessman from Australia and is here investing in hotels and businesses here. While we were at the restaurant he wanted to talk business with me. He is currently looking into investing in El Corte, the restaurant where Bush ate when he visited. He told me that he wants me to go home to school and then come back to Montevideo over the Christmas break with marketing ideas for a restaurant to implement. He is so random. He told me he would pay me to come back, pay for housing, etc. Australians are ambitious and crazy.

Today we have an appointment at the American embassy at 2:30. There is an international ballet gala at Teatro Solis and I tried to get tickets yesterday, but they were out of tickets. There is another performance the last night I am here by a modern youth dance company from the Netherlands so hopefully I can go then. Jasmine leaves Tuesday so I may go with her one last time to the tango thing tonight.

Tomorrow morning Jasmine, Ryan, Kendall and I are leaving on a bus at 7 a.m. for Buenos Aires. I am sooo excited to see it! I have been reading a Lonely Planet book about everything there is to see. It is supposed to be very European, which is wonderful for me. I miss Europe more than I had thought. Apparently this weekend is the celebration of a famous tango singer in Buenos Aires so the city is supposed to be full of tango celebrations and pilgrimages to his grave. I will also be able to see Evita Peron’s grave, which is very controversial. I will give more information after I have seen it!

Uruguay Roadtrip!

Yesterday I had another fabulous day. We were all in pain from the super-long horback ride the day before, but it did not stop us from driving all over the plains of Uruguay.

Jo had rented a car (thank goodness she knows how to drive a stick shift. Apparently that's all they have in S. America.) I didn't decide that I was going with her and Jasmine until about 11 the night before. Jasmine told me that Jo wanted to leave at 7 a.m.

I was incredibly tired, of course, when we left on the trip. I haven't been up that early since my 8 o'clocks this last semester. It was worth it when we got to watch the sun rise over la rambla e la playa (beach) en Montevideo. We were in the car literally all day. We drove through about 4 departments (kind of like states) and had to pay tolls at each border.

Uruguay has everything as far as nature goes: thermal pools in Salto (in the North,) sand dunes (saw it,) beaches (everywhere and beautiful,) marshes (saw it,) palm trees (the cows graze surrounded by them-that was strange,) hills, waterfalls (saw it,) and more. Gauchos are one of the main past-times and symbols of Uruguay. The meat here is amazing, especially when they cook it asado (barbecue) style. I am from Texas, but the meat here just can't be beat. I can understand how for some locals, all they seem to ever eat is meat.

On our journey we followed the rambla (road along the beach) to Punta del Este and then onto Rocha. Once you leave Montevideo Uruguay is just a bunch of land and cows, with a few gauchos thrown in here and there. Most of the cities along the coast are fishing villages that live without electricity, running water, etc. My favorite place during the trip was Punta del Diablo. It was a small beach village with all sorts of wildly colored houses on the beach. It was small and quaint, but still amazing since the beach was right there and beautiful.

We went and ate at some random hotel restaurant we passed by since we were in the middle of nowhere. After that we decided to go to a waterfall. We had to drive 10 km on the worst roads I've ever seen on steep inclines (and I've been to Africa where the roads are terrible.) It was getting dark so we feared about getting back from the waterfalls, but seeing the sunset from the top of the hills made the journey worth it.

The waterfall was pretty at the end, but it was also pretty small. After that it was really dark so we started to head back. They don't believe in signs that help with directions so we got lost in a couple towns, but we got back at about 9.

Most people back home would have been bored with such a road trip, but it was nice to get out of the city (again, since I did horseback riding too.) The countryside actually looked a lot like the Texas countryside with all the cows (except for the palm trees, that was just weird.) I miss my car and driving to the lake house. Yeah, I'm a hick.

Today is a national holiday. It's the anniversary of a past president's death (Artigas.) The president came out to make a speech at 11 in Plaza Independencia. I'm not sure if I have work today since I didn't go yesterday, but I would guess that I don't due to the holiday. The high schoolers are here now. There is also a guy my age who has an internship doing campaign work in Buenos Aires after he goes to the school here for awhile. He's from Houston and is fluent in Russian and wanted to work on his Spanish since he's from Texas. Sounds familiar. The high schoolers are from Virginia. The people you meet when you are abroad never cease to amaze me. I'm going to go enjoy my holiday. Hasta luego!

Horseback Riding!!!

Today we (everyone with Adelante: Jasmine, Jo, Kendall, Ryan, Haylee, Rachelle and I) went horseback riding in Canelones, an hour and a half car ride outside of Montevideo. Let me say now that it was AMAZING and I never want to go horseback riding in the states again because I won't be able to gallop along the beach.

Jo took 4 of us in her rented car. We left at 9 and when we got there we were astounded. They had every kind of farm animal you could imagine and they were just walking around. They had a turkey, peacock, tons of horses (they raise thoroughbreds and racing horses,) cows, hogs, alpacas, etc. It was huge. It was really really nice to get outside of the city. The people that run the place heard that I was from Texas and asked me if I felt like I was home. I totally did. If only they had some country music on...

I had no idea that the actual horseback ride would be so long or that it would lead to the beach. The ride ended up being about 4 hours long!! I am incredibly sore now. Most of the time the horses didn't walk, but trotted. Painful. I kind of know how to ride and that helped a little as we went through the forest trotting. My horse even made a jump over a puddle!

The best part was when we went to the beach. They warned us ahead of time to hold the reigns tightly or the horses would want to run. Too bad we all galloped and had horse races by the time we were done on the beach. Even Jasmine, who was riding a horse for the first time, was galloping along. In fact, she wanted the horse to go faster when we were going back.

I didn't want it to end, but my body said otherwise and they had asado, or barbecue, for us. They made chorizo (sausage) and carne (steak) for us on the grill. It was pretty good. We all just sat around and talked for awhile. I really did feel like I was at some barbecue place in Texas, just with Spanish. The people that ran the place are somehow connected with the school and it was darling to watch their entire family (about 3 generations there) talk and play and laugh together. Of the the girls (about 12) had on cowboy boots, which cracked me up.

Today was amazing and we all greatly enjoyed it. I just called my dad since it's Father's Day. My family is so crazy. Right now my mom is at an airport in Michigan after my cousin's wedding waiting for her delayed flight to take off again. Then one of my sisters (Rachel, 16) is in Chicago on a 10-day mission trip with the church youth choir. My dad, sister (Faith, 13,) and two brothers went to the lake yesterday, but I feel better since they were rained out. Isn't that awful?! My sister Courtney (19) is deciding right now where she wants to go to school next semester while she works like a crazy person at Chili's back home. Oh family!

Yesterday we (Kendall, Jasmine, Ryan and I) tried to get tickets for a Globetrotters game last night. It ended up being sold out. We went to Punta Carretas shopping to go to Buquebus (the main travel agency here) to get tickets for Buenos Aires and were then sent to Tres Cruces (the main bus center/shopping) to go to the other store's location. Keep in mind that we had gone out at La Cite the night before and hadn't gotten home until about 5 a.m. We were all dead the entire day. But (after waiting an hour in line) we finally got our tickets to go to Buenos Aires!!! We will be leaving early Friday morning, staying at a commercial hotel (which seems rather nice,) and then coming back Sunday evening. We are all very excited!! It was a little pricy at $120 US, but I would have hated going home without going to Buenos Aires, especially with it so close. So the day ended on a positive note...and today was AMAZING!!! I have two more weeks here and I intend on enjoying every second of it.

Making the best of things

If nothing else, I have learned how to make the best of circumstances that seem bleak and endless while I have been abroad here in Montevideo. It began when I got sick and was stuck in bed for a week without anyone from home to reassure me.

It continued when I started going to work. When people here, and abroad in general, learn that you are from the United States of America, you become a target. They are constantly surrounded in our culture and they seem to like finding weaknesses when they meet us. I work in a room with four other women. The women here are very passive agressive and sometimes rude. I have heard them talking about me several times. Just about how I stay on my computer (God forbid I actually work) while they chat and drink mate. They are so lazy here! Or you could look at it as Americans are workaholics, which is also pretty true.

I have laughed off the idle gossip in the past. Yesterday was actually a really good day with them. I asked them about the media here and we ended up talking about what we do when we go out and common slang in our countries. They even shared mate with me and I had coffee and lemon cream pie with them. I had been praying about the awkwardness in the office and I felt my prayers were answered.

However, today was a different story. I think they forget that I can understand them. They were talking about how they always buy the milk to put in the coffee and that I should pay too. I've had coffee with them twice and usually politely refuse so I can be home on time. Of course I understood what they were saying and when they sat down I got out 10 pesos and gave it to the girl sitting nearest me and said it was for the milk, I didn't know they had to pay for it, and that I would not be having coffee today. She took the money from me silently and quickly pocketed it. I suppose women are petty no matter where you go. All I can do is pray for them. They need something (or someone) to talk about at work, and as an American I can't avoid the constant attention. As an American abroad, you just have to know how to deal with it.

I have most definately learned how to stand up for myself while I have been here. This is only one instance. I have also still been e-mailing Adelante because they have still not done anything with all our complaints. I would have never sent such harsh and thoroughly analyzed e-mails in the past. Furthermore, I have had to stand up to a guy who is here for two weeks between the completion of his medical school and residency. He has said rude or distasteful things about women, to me and to other people. Back home I would have turned a deaf ear or just given him a cold look, but here I have been bold and griped him out.

I'm not sure if it's good or bad that I have had to constantly stand up for myself, but now I can only hope and pray that it turns out to be a good thing and I can keep it under control. Studying abroad in a place that hardly any people speak your language stretches you far enough, but all the extra rude sentiments that go along with being an American abroad doesn't help too much. Especially being an American woman because they all think we're crazy nymphos from the movies they watch on cable TV. You really do have to know how to deal with animosity before going abroad as an American, but after you decide not to care it's great.

On a more positive note, things with Maria are getting better and she has been very kind to me. Kendall and Ryan moved into the school so I have been able to see more of them, which has been nice. I can't believe I only have a few more days left before I leave!

Here is a picture of 3 of my closest friends from Baylor with my mom when we stayed at my house to go on our roadtrip to San Diego, California, for Spring Break.

My Dear Doctor

Here is a funny story:
I had to get a penicillin shot in my butt when I was sick from the doctor that Jasmine shadows. Apparently after he looked at my throat and he and Jasmine were outside waiting for me to get changed he told her I was cute. She told me in the car on the way to get my shot. Great, I know.

So when he finally had the huge shot ready (massive needle with a lot of liquid, it was so amazingly painful) I had to unzip my pants, etc. up on an examination table for him to give me the shot. I made Jasmine stay in the room with me because it was awkward knowing the doctor thought I was cute and he was giving me a shot on my bare bottom. It hurt like heck and I had to lie there for awhile before I could get up, but then Jasmine and I caught a cab to go home.

When we were in the cab she got a text from the doctor and started to laugh uncontrollably. She wouldn't tell me why, only that it was from the doctor. Today she told me why. Apparently he texted her that he was about to have a heart attack from giving me the shot because he thought I was so attractive. Then he texted her that he was only human, etc. Yeah, awkward. So Jasmine told me all this today and that he said hi to me and I may be seeing him soon. Yeah. Story of my awkward life. At least it's worth a good laugh for everyone else.

Going out again

Since we didn't end up going to Buenos Aires we went out this weekend instead. Norma, the woman who lives here at the school, told me that she knew the owner of El Tigre, one of the local Uruguayan restaurants near here. At first we were going to go eat in Ciudad Vieja, but when she told me that I worked it out so we would all go to El Tigre and got Norma to call. We reserved a table for 15.

Ryan and I both took off work (we are the only ones who have steady everyday jobs) on Friday to go to the American embassy. We were so excited to go. We had heard that they are very nice if you are an American citizen and show you around the place and have American food (peanut m&ms, etc.) Not so. At first we just took pictures by the American embassy sign. A guard came and told us we couldn't take pictures, but when we showed him our passports he said it was okay. We were excited to finally be treated well because we were foreigners.

It went downhill from there. Kendall had e-mailed people at the embassy for a tour and they had replied that they would work something out. However, when we got there the lady at the front desk knew little English and had us talk to someone inside on an outside telephone. Apparently the woman who usually does tours was in Colonia and had been for the past week. We had to be escorted if we went inside and the woman at the front did not even attempt to set us up with an escort. Thus four American citizens were turned away from their own embassy. We were astonished and apalled. I just sent an e-mail to them of my disproval at how we were treated. Showing our passports should have been enough to get us inside. That is how it should be and it was how it was when I was abroad in Europe. Oh Uruguayans.

Pretty much everyone from the school went to eat and it was a lot of fun. There is a new student taking classes at the school who will be here for literally two weeks. He just finished medical school and will be starting his residency. That's just crazy in my opinion. There are two new girls who also came abroad with Adelante, Haylee from California and Rachelle from Georgia. I hope they know what theye are getting into!

We got done eating at about midnight and most of us went to the W Lounge in Parque Rodo to go dancing. When we first got there it was completely dead. Since Jasmine and I were going to the feria early the next morning we left around 5 a.m. By then it was completely packed. The place is really fun on Friday nights, but they totally start playing the same music over and over. They love Gwen Stefani and Fergie here and they play a lot of our oldies as well. They get really excited when they play Grease. It is so funny that people abroad never like Americans because they dislike Bush so much, but they are obsessed with our our culture (music, news, celebrities, etc.) It's so ironic.

Yesterday Ryan, Kendall, Jasmine and I went to Mercado del Puerto to go souvenir shopping and to just look around. It is a very old building and reminded me a lot of Florence's central market. It is filled with all types of restaurants and they all give you free medio y medio, the official alcoholic drink of Uruguay (mate being the non-alcoholic.) It is half champagne and half white wine. It was very good. The woman who taught with Liz's boyfriend at the tango place actually worked as a seater at the restaurant we ended up going to, it was hilarious to see her. I ordered pumpkin ravioli in seafood sauce, something I would have ordered in Florence, and it was amazing. I did a lot of souvenir shopping at Mercado del Puerto...it was painful but fun.

At about midnight we met Liz at a new bar. She had reserved a table for nine and we got to meet a bunch of her friends. Two of them especially knew a lot of English and wanted to practice their English. They were actually very good and had been to the states several times. Apparently there is a British and American place for teaching English here. The American is larger and sets up students to go abroad. One of the guys started talking to me about how people disliked Americans and how he thought it was wrong since they have never been there. I told him that Americans do the same thing with other countries. We think we're the best, and that's just as bad. It's not until you travel and really experience a place that you have any right to say anything negative about it. It is so frustrating to hear people talk badly about another culture that they know nothing of. It is what traveling cures.

After staying at the bar for awhile we went to another place where they played Argentenian music to dance and Jasmine and I left at about 5 a.m. Today we have taken it easy. I e-mailed both the embassy and Adelante. We are all sending another round of e-mails to Adelante to remind them that we are still not happy with our situation now that we are all doing our internships. My e-mail was not as politically correct as my past e-mail, but I do not think any of our e-mails will be anymore.

Soccer with a second wind

I went to my job for the entire week this week. It is not at all what I expected. My boss handed me a tape that was in both English and Spanish from a British man talking about advertising and he told me to listen to it and transcribe into both languages. Like any internship, it is basically just busy work. However, I am able to get online so I chat with people online and research some way to get to Buenos Aires.

I had booked a hostel a few days ago to stay in Buenos Aires this weekend. We didn't think that getting there would be a big deal. There are ferries run by buquebus that constantly run. We went onto the website and it said the trips would be about 190 pesos for the fastest boat they have that runs from straight from Montevideo to Buenos Aires in about 3 hours. However, it was in Argentinian pesos and ended up amounting to about 60 American dollars one-way. Ridiculous. By the time we figured out a slower/cheaper way of getting there (7 hour trip by bus and ferry from Colonia at $80 roundtrip,) it was too late.

I cancelled the hostel reservations and now we will be here for the weekend. I had no idea that it would be so expensive to get around South America. The main form of transportation are buses, but there are only beaches worth going to in Uruguay and it's cold now. There are mineral springs in the most Northern part of Uruguay (in Salto,) but those busses will be more expensive. To get to Buenos Aires we have to get across the Rio de Plata and obviously that is expensive.

It was sooo much easier to get around in Europe. You just hop on a slow
local train and it's just a few dollars. That's not even mentioning
Ryanair where you can hop on a plane for 15 euros to Ireland (no joke!) It
may have been ghetto, but it got us there. We are not that lucky in South
America.

On a lighter note, yesterday I went to the biggest soccer game of the season here. The players were Firelli and Nacional, two Montevideo teams. Nacional won by one goal. The fans were crazy. We got stuck in a scrimmage before the game outside of the stadium. I have never beene to a sporting event and feared for my life. It was fun though. It's always a cultural experience. After the game Jasmine, Kendall, Ryan and I went to the one Mexican restaurant in Montevideo. It's not Tex-Mex, but the place reminds me of home.

Tomorrow I think we are going to try going to the American embassy, which is supposed to be amazing inside. On Saturday there is apparently a huge feria that we are going to try going to. Between my work, not being able to communicate perfectly and not taking classes and still getting over my sickness I am ready to move on from Montevideo. I think it would have been different if there was a lot to do or somewhere to travel, this town is very sleepy compared to what I am used to in Europe. I think I am just bummed about not going to Buenos Aires this weekend.

llagas and a shot in the cola

I have been in my small South American bed for a week now. I can say without a doubt that it was been the most painful week of my life, emotionally and physically. It is hard to be sick millions of miles away from all your loved ones. It's even more hard when you are stuck in bed and the only one to attend to you speaks another language. Only God pulled me through this last week.

I went to the doctor Monday and he gave me medicine that didn't do anything at all. It turns out that it was only homeopathic medicine that had random things like caffeine in it. The health system here is completely different and a little sketchy, as I learned the hard way. Jasmine has an internship following a doctor around and she asked him to take a look at me. I did not go to work Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, and instead stayed in bed in a great deal of endless pain. I was afraid my throat was going to close up and I could eat next to nothing. I just stayed in bed. I literally stayed in bed all day. It was miserable and I wasn't getting any better.

The doctor Jasmine shadows finally came to look at me Thursday night. He looked at my throat for about two seconds and instantly his countenance dropped and he told me to get dressed to go with him to the hospital. That in itself was painful. It got worse. I had to get a penicillin shot in my cola, or butt. The needle was huge and even made Jasmine squirm. It was SOO painful and I am still sore from it. I held Jasmine's hand and she claims I almost broke her hand. He prescribed me amoxicillin and something for fever and I went home.

I was supposed to feel better the next day after the shot, but I didn't feel better at all. I was supposed to go to Colonia Saturday, but I was still miserable and not at all better. I had bought a cell phone randomly on Monday and I think it was the best thing I have done since I have been here. My parents called me every so often to check up on me. After being on strong antibiotics and the shot my family started getting worried about me. I was in such intense pain that it was hard to sleep. I would wake up after a few minutes crying from the pain. My throat looked as awful as ever.

Jasmine left Saturday for Colonia with Ryan and Kendall, and they all had a great time. This left Maria and I alone at her little casa. She gave me water to take my pills and left me alone to attempt to sleep during the day. She gave me soup for lunch sometimes. She actually ate with me during dinner and talked to me about the economic crisis in Montevideo and her kids. It was kind of comic. I tried my best to sit there and pay attention. She even whipped out six photo albums to show pictures from Brazil and Spain. Between feeling horribly sick and not knowing too much Spainsh or wanting to converse in it, I was glad to be having good conversation with Maria. And by conversation I mean sitting there in misery.

If it weren't for my family calling every so often and the occasional texts from Zena I do not think I could have pulled through. I think it made it harder to get better being so far away from my friends and family. I have learned a few things from being so sick abroad. Primarily that I could never survive if I permanently lived far from my loved ones. I physically couldn't take it.

I think I am finally beginning to feel a little better. My throat still looks awful, but I felt safe enough to leave the house to use the internet here at the school. My dad says I had strep pharyngitis, or a very bad case of strep. I came very close to coming home, but I want to see Buenos Aires first. I am about to start planning a trip there for next weekend.

Oh, and if you were wondering about the picture...my dad has been sending me random pictures from my childhood that really make my day. Here is one with me and all the females of the family. Enjoy.