Aventura: Empresa de resultado incierto o que presenta riesgos (Real Academia Española) / Adventure: an unusual, exciting, and daring experience (Concise Oxford English Dictionary)
Well my blog is titled adventures in Uruguay and the last couple of weeks that exactly what i have been having. Perhaps I get the inclination to call everything an adventure from my aunts and my mom, but wherever it comes from I think my friends here will always remember me saying “¡es una aventura!”.
Survivor part 1: (last semester my friends took a trip to celebrate the end of classes, so in following with tradition, 2 more trips were planned to celebrate the end of this semester.)
Two weekends ago I got the privilege to go camping with friends in Arequita. There we hiked up the big rock/hill for lack of a better term. (Its very fun to see what they think is tall, as Uruguay doesn’t really have mountains). We spent the day scampering around the top and taking lots of photos. At night we prepared a fire and ate chorizos and panchos (hotdogs) (side note: 70 hotdogs were purchased for the weekend to split between 9 people, needless to say i think I ate the most hotdogs I have ever eaten in my life, and hopefully the last I will ever eat.) I also got to teach my friends how to make s’mores! Other highlights of the trip include swimming in a nearby river and visiting a cave in the side of the rock full of bats. The bat cave visit was a minny tour and I ended up having to translate for some Indians (from India) who only spoke English. I don’t know how well I translated it all (partly because after someone talks for 10 minutes straight, try repeating exactly what was said in another language and let me know how it goes for you…) but in general it was a fun experience. My friends jokingly told me I need to come back and work as a translator (although some my have been more serious about the me coming back part). The last highlight of the trip was visiting a small waterfall. To get there I rode in the back of a pick-up over some of the most gorgeous countryside. That is where the phrase “its an adventure” came in.
Survivor part 2:
This past weekend was another adventure with more friends. This time we took a trip to Piriápolis on the coast. Don’t worry, there were plenty of big hills to climb there too. We started the adventures off with a chairlift to the top of cerro del San Antonio. Afterwards we took a trip to the beach and I convinced everyone it was warm enough to go swimming, which it totally was.
The main attraction close by is cerro or hill Pan de Azucar, which at 423 meters is the 3rd tallest point in Uruguay. (tallest point in MD 1,024 meters, Backbone Mountain) On Sunday we made our way up Pan de Azucar. The climb was a little bit more difficult to get to the top compared to Arequita, but was totally worth it. There is a giant cross at the top that you can go inside, to the top and look out. The cross kindof moves in the wind so I didn’t spend too much time inside. After returning to the bottom, we may or may not have found ourselves in front of the Castle of Piria, the guy who founded Piriapolis, but the castle was closed so we continued to the cerro del Toro. I made it up about half way, before deciding to sit and relax and enjoy the nature with 2 others, while the rest of the group continued… (it wasn’t at all because we had been walking all day and I needed to rest, nope definitely not.) At the end of the road making our way back to the bus terminal, we ran into a comparsa playing candombe (youtube it, its pretty sweet) in the street. To finish the day off we stopped for churros and saw the sun set over the water. All in all, an amazing weekend. Obviously, there was lots more that happened but I figured I wouldnt bore you all with too many details.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Spring in Montevideo
This week marks my last week of classes. I cant believe it is already the end of the semester here. Although at the beginning I wasn't quite sure I was prepared to stay here for a whole semester, I now find myself not prepared to leave it all behind. I have done lots of school work in the past few weeks and now face final exams, relaxing at the beach, and a few trips to see a little more of the country before I leave. The weather is getting to be beautiful and i find myself walking to school more often, reading in the park and running on the rambla. Although I will completely miss fall this year, having 2 springs is totally worth it. Since last updating you all, I am now the proud owner of a mate, and yes when I return I will be carrying it around with me to class as long as I can find yerba. I visited Salto, the second biggest city in Uruguay (with a population of ~125,000). While in Salto my friend Christeane and I took a boat ride to visit Concordia the neighboring city in Argentina, walked around the city and spent the afternoon relaxing in the hot springs. Other exciting events include a weekend full of hanging out with friends that ended with going to a fútbol game, and riding the rides in parque Rodó next to my house. One of my favorite quotes describing José E. Rodó, who the park is named after comes from the wikipedia page on him. It says, "What Rodó was afraid of was the debilitating effect of working individuals' limited existence doing the same work, over and over again, never having time to develop the spirit. Among Uruguayan youth, however, he is best known for Parque Rodó, the Montevideo amusement park named after him, where the worship of culture was somewhat less refined than Rodó intended." I also got to see Trotskey Vengaran, a rock band from here, in concert. Anyway thats a little more of what I have been doing here. I figured Id give you all a quick update and let you know im still alive, and despite my desire to stay longer (even though I miss you all a ton!) i will in fact still be coming back. (I mean i do kinda need to graduate this spring...)
Sending my love!
Sending my love!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Things I miss...
In case you are dying to find out all the things that are so different here that I can't wait to get back to the US or the lack of all things "american" (what I really mean is things from the US since Im still in America, just the southern part) here is a list to put a stop to all your musings:
- Studying the Bible with others on a regular basis:
while this is probably something I could be more proactive on trying to change, studying the Bible by yourself, while still important, is no replacement for fellowship, rather a complement to it. God gave us brothers and sisters for a reason... remind me why we dont lean on each other more sometimes?
-My family, especially my niece and nephews. To my siblings who are reading this, please give them a big hug and kiss for me! Also I am sorry that I cant be at home to help out right now. Love you Vanessa and Im praying for you. Also hope everyone has a great run! http://collinsfamilyrun.com/
-My dteam! I love you girls!
-My friends in general and random road trips that sometimes occur, or just random crazy happenings with yall
And that is as long as the list gets. Yes there are things that are different, but going back to what I said in my first post, people are the same everywhere. Its just that the same people arent everywhere, (ie friends, family from home). Going back home, the things I will miss most are the friends Ive made here (and maybe mate and bizcochos). The point is that people are adaptable; we can get used to living in many different conditions (this is not to say that things are very different here, they are in fact very similar in many ways). The important things in life is who you live and share it with and how you interact and care for others (from your neighbor that you see everyday to the one half way around the world who doesnt have clean drinking water, to the one living in your city who doesnt have a home right now). We shouldnt let ourselves get tied up in details that in the long run arent so important. This is not to say that I have this all figured out or that im not still selfish or superficial sometimes (note the bits about heat and classes), but i sure hope its something im working to achieve.
[last side note: is it bad that to make sure i spelled things right in english i translated them to spanish...?]
- Studying the Bible with others on a regular basis:
while this is probably something I could be more proactive on trying to change, studying the Bible by yourself, while still important, is no replacement for fellowship, rather a complement to it. God gave us brothers and sisters for a reason... remind me why we dont lean on each other more sometimes?
-My family, especially my niece and nephews. To my siblings who are reading this, please give them a big hug and kiss for me! Also I am sorry that I cant be at home to help out right now. Love you Vanessa and Im praying for you. Also hope everyone has a great run! http://collinsfamilyrun.com/
-My dteam! I love you girls!
-My friends in general and random road trips that sometimes occur, or just random crazy happenings with yall
And that is as long as the list gets. Yes there are things that are different, but going back to what I said in my first post, people are the same everywhere. Its just that the same people arent everywhere, (ie friends, family from home). Going back home, the things I will miss most are the friends Ive made here (and maybe mate and bizcochos). The point is that people are adaptable; we can get used to living in many different conditions (this is not to say that things are very different here, they are in fact very similar in many ways). The important things in life is who you live and share it with and how you interact and care for others (from your neighbor that you see everyday to the one half way around the world who doesnt have clean drinking water, to the one living in your city who doesnt have a home right now). We shouldnt let ourselves get tied up in details that in the long run arent so important. This is not to say that I have this all figured out or that im not still selfish or superficial sometimes (note the bits about heat and classes), but i sure hope its something im working to achieve.
[last side note: is it bad that to make sure i spelled things right in english i translated them to spanish...?]
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Culture:
So in case you were wondering what interesting cultural things there are in Montevideo, I would like to share some of what I’ve done.
Theaters and plays: I had the opportunity to see a play that took place on a city bus. When it starts you don’t know who all that actors are, they could be the person sitting next to you. It was a lot of fun and interesting to see how they used stereotypes of people you might see on a bus. The best part was the actors interact with the audience (for example the drunk on the bus ended up in the laps of a couple people). Another fun play I saw was called “Rescatate” and was about some planchas who try and rob a corner store. Planchas are an urban tribe, some people might call them troublemakers, they say “che, vo” and use a lot of slang. Sorry that is actually a horrible description, but its what I came up with. Also a lot of people say “che, vo”, not just planchas. The play was very well done although I didn’t understand all of it because of the slang.
El Teatro Solís is a famous theater in down town Montevideo. I haven’t been to a play there yet, but I got to visit it with my class. The building is gorgeous inside and out. It was built by some rich investors in the mid to late 1800’s and is now operated by the government. (I really should be studying for a test in my culture class right now, but I figure this is kindof like studying… right?)
Día de patrimonio: So to make up for not having huge celebrations on their independence day, Uruguay has a day of patriotism. On this day/weekend lots of buildings are opened to the public that normally aren’t. There are tours of neighborhoods and of the harbor and all the museums are opened. There are plays and shows in the streets and plazas, and everything is free. I went on a boat ride that toured the harbor, visited some interesting buildings downtown, and went on a bus ride of the whole Cerro neighborhood. El Cerro de Montevideo is a fort at the top of a hill that overlooks the city and the bay. It was fun to see everything but at the end of the day all I wanted to do was sleep. (I may or may no have been out the night before till 3:30ish in the am.)
Also it is not ok to go out anywhere (to a club, ect.) before 2am and leaving before 5am is medio raro.
Finally my favorite “cultural event” was the asado (basically a BBQ) I went to at my friend’s house. (I like hanging out with people more than visiting old builds, not that old buildings aren’t interesting, but people are more fun! And yes, I eat meat in Uruguay, Ariell and Amanda you can lecture me later ☺) Asado is very important to the cultural identity of Uruguayans, according to my culture professor. Basically people eat lots of meat, because there are like 5 cows for every person living in Uruguay and asado is a fun tradition. I tried teaching my friends some games from “yankilandia” like loaded questions, but Im not sure they liked my questions. (Leah, I blame you for infecting me with your random questions.) The night ended with Karaoke and some dancing. (Tín, no sabía que alguien de acá estaba leyendo mi blog, pero ojalá que te gusta. Ahora sabes todo lo que pienso sobre tu país.)
(Also if you haven’t noticed yet I like parentheses, sorry if they get annoying.)
Theaters and plays: I had the opportunity to see a play that took place on a city bus. When it starts you don’t know who all that actors are, they could be the person sitting next to you. It was a lot of fun and interesting to see how they used stereotypes of people you might see on a bus. The best part was the actors interact with the audience (for example the drunk on the bus ended up in the laps of a couple people). Another fun play I saw was called “Rescatate” and was about some planchas who try and rob a corner store. Planchas are an urban tribe, some people might call them troublemakers, they say “che, vo” and use a lot of slang. Sorry that is actually a horrible description, but its what I came up with. Also a lot of people say “che, vo”, not just planchas. The play was very well done although I didn’t understand all of it because of the slang.
El Teatro Solís is a famous theater in down town Montevideo. I haven’t been to a play there yet, but I got to visit it with my class. The building is gorgeous inside and out. It was built by some rich investors in the mid to late 1800’s and is now operated by the government. (I really should be studying for a test in my culture class right now, but I figure this is kindof like studying… right?)
Día de patrimonio: So to make up for not having huge celebrations on their independence day, Uruguay has a day of patriotism. On this day/weekend lots of buildings are opened to the public that normally aren’t. There are tours of neighborhoods and of the harbor and all the museums are opened. There are plays and shows in the streets and plazas, and everything is free. I went on a boat ride that toured the harbor, visited some interesting buildings downtown, and went on a bus ride of the whole Cerro neighborhood. El Cerro de Montevideo is a fort at the top of a hill that overlooks the city and the bay. It was fun to see everything but at the end of the day all I wanted to do was sleep. (I may or may no have been out the night before till 3:30ish in the am.)
Also it is not ok to go out anywhere (to a club, ect.) before 2am and leaving before 5am is medio raro.
Finally my favorite “cultural event” was the asado (basically a BBQ) I went to at my friend’s house. (I like hanging out with people more than visiting old builds, not that old buildings aren’t interesting, but people are more fun! And yes, I eat meat in Uruguay, Ariell and Amanda you can lecture me later ☺) Asado is very important to the cultural identity of Uruguayans, according to my culture professor. Basically people eat lots of meat, because there are like 5 cows for every person living in Uruguay and asado is a fun tradition. I tried teaching my friends some games from “yankilandia” like loaded questions, but Im not sure they liked my questions. (Leah, I blame you for infecting me with your random questions.) The night ended with Karaoke and some dancing. (Tín, no sabía que alguien de acá estaba leyendo mi blog, pero ojalá que te gusta. Ahora sabes todo lo que pienso sobre tu país.)
(Also if you haven’t noticed yet I like parentheses, sorry if they get annoying.)
Monday, October 4, 2010
Church
Reasons why I love mi iglesia:
One Sunday we sang a Johnny Cash song in English, the normal hymns in Spanish, a hymn in German, and a song in an indigenous language that if I name I will probably be mistaken, but I think it was Guaraní.
It is very traditional and follows all the Lutheran liturgy, but it is also very informal and the pastor will often stop and speak directly to people throughout the service and it feels a lot more like a family than a “holier then thou” type of place.
Lots of times we sit and have coffee after the sermon and talk about everything from plans for the youth group, to questions about God, to how excited we are the weather is finally getting warmer.
Its 3 blocks from my house and starts at 11:30
Even though the congregation is really small (the most people I saw at one service – 30 because there was a baptism, the least one week when it was really cold – 3) they always have someone to play the organ
The pastor preaches from God’s word and its good.
I also finally found out about and was able to go to a Bible study for the youth in the church. (side note “youth” is anywhere from 13 to 30) It was a little different from what I am used to, but it was really good to just fellowship with others. One thing that I have missed a lot is just studying the Bible with other people and having community and accountability. So yay for finding a Bible study!
One Sunday we sang a Johnny Cash song in English, the normal hymns in Spanish, a hymn in German, and a song in an indigenous language that if I name I will probably be mistaken, but I think it was Guaraní.
It is very traditional and follows all the Lutheran liturgy, but it is also very informal and the pastor will often stop and speak directly to people throughout the service and it feels a lot more like a family than a “holier then thou” type of place.
Lots of times we sit and have coffee after the sermon and talk about everything from plans for the youth group, to questions about God, to how excited we are the weather is finally getting warmer.
Its 3 blocks from my house and starts at 11:30
Even though the congregation is really small (the most people I saw at one service – 30 because there was a baptism, the least one week when it was really cold – 3) they always have someone to play the organ
The pastor preaches from God’s word and its good.
I also finally found out about and was able to go to a Bible study for the youth in the church. (side note “youth” is anywhere from 13 to 30) It was a little different from what I am used to, but it was really good to just fellowship with others. One thing that I have missed a lot is just studying the Bible with other people and having community and accountability. So yay for finding a Bible study!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Classes, Museums, Beaches, and 21K
So I know its been a while since my last update, but Ill try not to dump too much information into one post. In general life here is going amazing, although every time I see little kids I miss my niece and nephews even more! The weather is finally warming up and... I HAVE FRIENDS! :) My Uruguayan friends are amazing. We study durning the week (they are so patient with me when I dont understand something or ask a million times ¿Cómo? - What?) and we go out on the weekends. The 24th of August is the night before Uruguay's independence day and is called the "night of nostalgia". Basically everyone goes out and parties and on the actual independence day, nothing really happens. People hang out with family or sleep in or just enjoy a day off of work. My Uruguayan friends invited me to a costume party because apparently thats a popular thing to do on la noche de nosaligia. I used my creativity and dressed up as la sirentita, (the little mermaid). All in all it was a blast.
Also I found friends that like museums and history. We traveled to Colonia, the oldest city in Uruguay, for a day and visited all the museums there and saw all the cool historic buildings. We also sat on the beach and relaxed a little at the end of the day. It was basically amazing. And this weekend some of us traveled to Punta del Este, a famous beach city in Uruguay. Although its not quite beach weather yet we got to explore the city without tons of people. On saterday we walked around, got caught in the rain with our umbrellas at the hostel (i got pretty wet because of course i wasnt wearing a jacket), ate at an amazing italian restaurant, warmed up by the fire in the hostel, walked to the port at night to see all the pretty lights shine on the water, and finally had a BBQ dinner at the hostel. The next morning I woke up early to prepare to run 21K (a half marathon!). It was soo fun and a great way to see the city. Also running along side the ocean is super fun, I definitely recommend it. I finished in 2hrs and 5 minutes, not the best time in the world, but for me its awesome! My friends were waiting for me at the finish and later in the day I ate some of the best homemade spinach ravioli. We sat on the beach and watched the sun set over the water and finally made our way back to Montevideo.
I am having lots of fun but I am studying and working hard at improving my spanish too. I have come to the conclusion that i understand spanish a lot better than uruguayan. I meet once a week with another exchange student from Spain and he helps me with my spanish while I help him with english. Its a pretty fun trade off (especially since he usually cooks lunch and we usually end up hanging out with his mexican and french apartment mates).
Another intersting thing I am doing here is a community service class. Once a week me and 3 other students go to a school to work with the kindergartners. This past week was the first week of us being in charge, but because it rained all week here there were only 4 kids that came to school that day. One of the reasons I was told that the kids dont come to school when it rains is because they only have one uniform and if it gets wet one day, the next day they cant come because there clothes arent dry. The kids are really sweet and im excited to work with them. Some of them require a lot of attention, but it should be good.
(more pictures to come)
Also I enjoy reading your comments!
Also, Elise, I think I should have been more clear, people assume I speak spanish till I open my mouth! :)
Also I found friends that like museums and history. We traveled to Colonia, the oldest city in Uruguay, for a day and visited all the museums there and saw all the cool historic buildings. We also sat on the beach and relaxed a little at the end of the day. It was basically amazing. And this weekend some of us traveled to Punta del Este, a famous beach city in Uruguay. Although its not quite beach weather yet we got to explore the city without tons of people. On saterday we walked around, got caught in the rain with our umbrellas at the hostel (i got pretty wet because of course i wasnt wearing a jacket), ate at an amazing italian restaurant, warmed up by the fire in the hostel, walked to the port at night to see all the pretty lights shine on the water, and finally had a BBQ dinner at the hostel. The next morning I woke up early to prepare to run 21K (a half marathon!). It was soo fun and a great way to see the city. Also running along side the ocean is super fun, I definitely recommend it. I finished in 2hrs and 5 minutes, not the best time in the world, but for me its awesome! My friends were waiting for me at the finish and later in the day I ate some of the best homemade spinach ravioli. We sat on the beach and watched the sun set over the water and finally made our way back to Montevideo.
I am having lots of fun but I am studying and working hard at improving my spanish too. I have come to the conclusion that i understand spanish a lot better than uruguayan. I meet once a week with another exchange student from Spain and he helps me with my spanish while I help him with english. Its a pretty fun trade off (especially since he usually cooks lunch and we usually end up hanging out with his mexican and french apartment mates).
Another intersting thing I am doing here is a community service class. Once a week me and 3 other students go to a school to work with the kindergartners. This past week was the first week of us being in charge, but because it rained all week here there were only 4 kids that came to school that day. One of the reasons I was told that the kids dont come to school when it rains is because they only have one uniform and if it gets wet one day, the next day they cant come because there clothes arent dry. The kids are really sweet and im excited to work with them. Some of them require a lot of attention, but it should be good.
(more pictures to come)
Also I enjoy reading your comments!
Also, Elise, I think I should have been more clear, people assume I speak spanish till I open my mouth! :)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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