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.
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