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!

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.

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.