¡Un Partido de Fútbol!

Last night we went to a football (soccer) match! There are two main football teams here and where I live is a Peñarol neighborhood.  Most of our friends cheer for Peñarol.  Last night a couple of our friends took us to a Peñarol match.  They were playing some team from Argentina.  Unfortunately in the last few minutes the other team scored and we couldn't come back so we lost 0-1.  I have been to football matches in England and Spain but we were just going, didn't know anyone who were fans, so we basically just chose a team (basically whichever people around us were cheering for).  This time we were with fans and they were getting into it so we got into it.  I don't get the people who get crazy into it.  I actually bought a book about football politics and violence while in Argentina.  There were only 150-200 people there who supported the other team.  I don't know how many I'm not good at estimating.  Basically the whole stadium were Peñarol fans.  It was fairly full and full capacity is 65000.  So they were outnumbered by quite a lot...I'm not sure how many people were there but there were a lot. Still the Argentines were outnumbered.  And they were frankly a little stupid.  They had barriers to separate them from the Peñarol fans and they knocked them down.  If you knock down the barriers set up to protect you what do you expect to happen.  The police came and took some away... There was a lot of smack talk and singing.  It was really fun!  I mean Peñarol should have won but it was still fun!  It was also a cool experience to go with Uruguayans and they could explain stuff to us and gave us a bit of an insight into Uruguayan football.
I think we might go to a Nacional game later this semester. That's the other team and quite the rival of Peñarol.  I have a friend who won't choose between them because it's kinda a big deal.

Colonia & Buenos Aires

So last weekend we went to Buenos Aires (and spent a little time in Colonia on the way).  Friday morning we left and took a bus to Colonia.  Colonia is the first settlement in present day Uruguay and it was actually a Portuguese settlement.  Basically for smuggling.  After the Portuguese settled there in Colonia the Spanish soon settled in Uruguay and created Montevideo.  There isn't a lot to do in Colonia but it's a nice, relaxing, quiet town.  Outside of the town there is a place where you can go see the largest pencil collection and the second largest keychain collection.  They also sell jams so we got to try some, and some interesting flavors.  After that we went into the city and saw the old bull fighting arena which actually was only operational for a month.  So it's kinda falling apart and you can't go in there.  Some people wanted to make Colonia a big tourist city and so they built a lot including this bull fighting area and a month after it opened Uruguay outlawed bull fighting so it's been sitting there decaying.  After lunch we went around town and saw some museums (the first one was the only one worth going to, it had a fossil of a 4 ft armadillo!!!) We also went up the lighthouse! And from the shore in Colonia we could barely see Buenos Aires.  We took a ferry there!

The first night in BA we just went out and found a place to eat and then walked along 9 de Julio, which is one of the widest avenues in the world.  Apparently there is one that is about an inch wider in Brazil. (there competition between Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay is hilarious)  We walked down to the congress building and back.

Saturday they took us around.  We went to Plaza de Mayo and saw the Casa Rosado and Cathedral and then we went to La Boca and Recoleta.  In the cemetery in Recoleta we saw the tomb of Evita, as well as some other tombs.  It was very interesting.  After that we had lunch and then went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and stayed there for about an hour.  There were paintings of Monet and Rembrandt, and Van Gogh, and a lot of Latin American artist.  Unfortunately only one floor was open because they're doing some remodeling. After we looked at some of the markets.

Sunday we went to church and stayed for lunch.  We met a lot of people there and then we hung out with one of the guys that afternoon.  We wanted to go to San Telmo but by the time we could it would have been pretty late so we just walked around.  That night we went and got pizzas at a place that the guy said was really cheap and then we went by the obelisk and ate.  Monday the other girls went to a zoo that was 2 hours away and they had a lot of fun petting tigers and lions and feeding elephants and crazy stuff.  I thought about going but it sounded really sketchy.  I just hung out close by in Buenos Aires.  Unfortunately everything closes on Mondays in BA.  We went down to the park and the rose garden was closed, and the planetarium was closed, and the zoo was closed, and the japanese garden was open but we were cheap and didn't want to pay 25 pesos ($5).  So we went back to Plaza de Mayo and nearby was Tortoni's which is a pretty awesome (but expensive) cafe.  Then we went to an awesome book store!!! It was an old theatre which had been changed into a bookstore and it was huge and fantastic!!!!  I bought a book!

That's about it...It was a lot of fun and I love Buenos Aires.

So here are some upcoming activities.  The first of March we're going to Rocha and then that next friday the 8th we're going to go to Ushuaia! That's our Spring break and yesterday we bought tickets to go to Ushuaia and El Calafate and booked hostels!  I'm so excited!!!  I probably should have brought a better coat...but yeah so that's super exciting!!!  In the meantime I have a lot of homework to get done this week and next week.

Carrasco and a nice relaxing weekend

So later Saturday a group of us ended up going to Carrasco.  We hung out in the beach, played in the water, and it was awesome!  The water was a great temperature and was so much fun to play in!  I think it's more fun to play in a river like than than the actually ocean.  For me at least.  There are waves which are fun but you never feel like you're really fighting the water.  It's pretty nice and fun!  Carrasco is a really cool area too!  Not like normal Montevideo.  There are a lot of big houses and some are huge!  I guess it's kinda like a suburb style.  But really nice!  There are some houses are are average and then there are some fantastic ones.  It was about a 45 minute bus ride away but it wasn't bad and only was 20 pesos.  ($1)  We just went to the beach and walked around.  We thought about going out to eat there but it's kinda expensive so we headed back to Montevideo and found a restaurant before returning to Casa.  It was a whole lot of fun!!!  A great day!  I hope we can go out to the beach in Carrasco soon.  It's not as crowded.

Sunday we continued our church project and visited a Pentecostal church.  After church we changed and went to the feria.  It was so cool but unfortunately just about as soon as we got there it started raining so we went into a bakery that some people had already visited and really liked so we went and ate a cheap lunch!  And good!  After that I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and then went to the church next door with a friend.  They were really happy to have us there and really friendly.  They talked to us a bit and one of the guys asked us if we knew "the yellow rose of Texas"

Oh and yesterday (monday) we watched Evita, in preparation for going to Argentina.  It was very interesting.

I guess that's all for now. Carnaval is going on so there are a lot of businesses close.  And bus schedules are weird but I don't think I'll have to worry about that but a friend of mine who lives in a different part told me she had some problems getting here because she couldn't find her usual bus.

This week!

So we kinda enjoyed learning how to tango so we went for another lesson Wednesday night.  We reviewed and improved what we had learned Monday and learned another move.  We're talking about going every once in a while!  

Most of what's going on now is classes and studying so that's a bit boring...but last night we had another party.  Several people from a youth group in town were invited and some missionaries came too.  Most of the kids were Americans who are living here for some reason or another.  We might go join them at their youth night.  There were a couple other kids from here.  It was a lot of fun though!  We ate a little bit and talked then we went and played cheesy games.  But it was fun.  

This is going to be a short one but I just wanted to update.  Today we're talking about going out to Carrasco to go to the beach there.  Just have to get everyone up and make a plan!  I guess that's all.  

Super Bowl and Tango

So Sunday I said we were going to have a Super Bowl party and now we've had it.  So basically we're 4 hours ahead of Texas so the Super Bowl was kinda late for us.  But Uruguayans like to stay up late.  Our director said the only time she's had to wait for a table at a restaurant was at midnight and birthday parties here basically are an all night deal.  But yes they invited several Uruguayans and a couple Americans who live here.  They were really into it.  I basically ate and talked with some of the girls.  They had no clue what was going on and I don't know a lot about football so imagine how hard it is to explain football to people, in spanish.  Not easy.  I didn't try.  I thought about it and tried to think what I might say but it just wasn't happening so I didn't try.  They hadn't ever seen American football before and one of the girls told me that she thought it was strange.  She also wondered why there were so many commercials.  After half time the girls left so I cleaned up a bit and went to bed.  But the guys stayed up to watch it all.  And apparently it was excited because there was no yelling the first half but there sure was the second (the one I was trying to sleep...)  Luckily it didn't keep me up all night.  It was a cool experience to get to watch it with Uruguayans.  But they got bored pretty fast.  Frankly I did too.  I've never been much of a fan of American football.

Monday night we had a Tango lesson.  Tango is a style of dance that comes from the Rio de la Plata region (not just Argentina).  So they had a couple people over to teach us the basics of tango all in 1 1/2 hours.  We kinda got the hang of it.  But not really.  It was really fun though.  We learned how to walk right in tango.  Unlike swing where you keep low to the ground in tango you stand tall on your toes.  Swing's more fun but tango is cool.  But it's kinda slow...but it's a really important part of the culture of the Rio de la Plata region (Montevideo/Buenos Aires) and the lesson was a lot of fun.  We talked about going and taking a lesson or two from the people who came because they teach weekly classes at El Mercado de la Abundancia.

Good news today in Spanish class I understood a lot more!  But for some reason I can never understand when she asks me a question directly so I think she thinks I can't understand her at all and that I'm lying when I say I can.  But I'm getting more and more use to the accent so that it is normal and when I see a word like "yo" or "playa" or "calle"my first instinct is to say it the Uruguayan way.  Which is pretty cool! Some still confuse me especially if I'm hearing it and it's a word that isn't as common.  And for some reason "ayer" messes me up.  You don't realize how many words have "y" or "ll" in it until the sound changes.

Well there's not a ton that's going on this week that I know of.  Maybe another party this weekend, and next week being carnaval we don't have Spanish classes and then we go to Buenos Aires a week from Friday!  Time's already flying!

Yemanja, Church, and Super Bowl

So I've grown up in the Bible Belt and haven't had a ton of experience with different religions.  I mean I know a bit about the other major ones but still haven't had a lot of experience with them.  Uruguay is the most secular South American country and 2nd most secular Latin American country (after Cuba).  One of the religions practiced here is an Afro-Brazilian religion called Candomble (not related to the dance candombe) Well anyway yesterday was the festival of the sea goddess Yemanja so we went to see what that was about.  Basically people gather at the beaches and release their offerings and pray to Yemanja and are blessed and light candles, chant and such.  It was really quite strange.  But good to see.  It made us see how much the people of Uruguay need Jesus.  It was so sad to see how many people were paying tribute to this false goddess and we were told that more usually are out there each year.

As a part of one of my classes (Ministry in Latin America) we have to visit a Catholic church and a Pentecostal church.  Today we went to the Catholic church.  I had been to a Catholic church before in Spain but it was still interesting to see the differences.  Mass at the particular place we went to in Spain was more formal this was a bit more laid back I felt like.  I mean they still had many Catholic traditions but it wasn't as (for lack of a better word) ceremonious at the one I had gone to before.  We're going to that one one more time for a mid-week service and next week going to the Pentecostal church.  Which I'm pretty excited about!

After Church today we met back up at Casa and went to a Chinese restaurant.  It was pretty nice but a bit pricy so I can't imagine going there a lot.

So yesterday I found out that the Superbowl is today (funny how being out of the country makes it easy to forget about stuff like that.  Well anyway we are going to have a Superbowl party and the youth from the church next door were invited and I think a few of them are going to come and some other various people.  I'm not a big fan of American football but it'll be good to have a time to hang out with people and there will be snacks (and I'm out of food and Cofa's is closed.)  So I'm kinda looking forward to that.  But I'm going to want to rest up before because it'll be a bit late.  So we'll see how that goes.  I mean it's kinda crazy for me to look forward for a football game but I guess I'm mostly excited about the food (I think they got dulce de leche ice cream) Haha!

Cofa's (since I mentioned it) is where I buy most of my groceries.  It's kinda sorta like wal-mart.  But not really.  I mean I go for the food but they also have some other stuff like clothes, school supplies, hygienic supplies and stuff.  Wal-mart is the best thing I can think of but at the same time it's not like Wal-mart.  There is a nice grocery store by the university where my spanish classes are but I've only been there once and then there are a lot of small ones.

Llamadas

I started Spanish classes this week.  It's going to be very hard!  But it'll be good (hopefully)  She doesn't talk in English at all and I have a hard time understanding her most of the time...but she says that I'll understand better soon.  Hopefully!  The classes are interesting though (when I can understand what's going on that is.)

Earlier this week we had a Candombe workshop.  Candombe is a type of dancing here.  It's roots are in the slaves that came from Africa.  Well we learned (or tried to learn) Candombe and learned a lot about it.  Thursday we got to go to a parade where all the groups were Candombe groups.  It's called Llamadas and is a part of the Carnaval celebrations here in Uruguay.  It was a cool parade but I was sure tired after it was done.

I'm not sure what all super interesting has been going on other than that.  I mean they're school and homework and friends.  We did have a movie night last night!  I mean we're getting to know each other better all the time.  We had a very interesting discussion the other day about whether we would do Sing Song or not.  Sing Song is a show that the university puts on every year and study abroad groups can send in a video.  At the beginning we were a bit more excited about it, had it written, and were going to film it in the airport.  Well sleeping seemed like a better idea than filming a video and since we've been here that's not what we've wanted to do.  Lyrics were due so we had to decide if we would do it and let's say not everyone wants to do it.  So there was an interesting split between the ones who wanted to and who didn't and it was quite funny.  I mean all in good fun.  I don't think we'll do it.  We have to have the video sent in by the 11th and I don't think we're going to get on that.

Today is going to be homework day for me.  I want to get caught up and don't really have anything to do until tonight.  Most people are needing to catch up on homework anyway.

I guess that's it for now.