¿Comó?

The last week or so has been super busy!!! Or has felt busy.  To catch everyone up, I turned 20, went to a Uruguay/Paraguay soccer match (world cup qualifier match!!!), went to El Prado (which is a fair), and the usual stuff (beach (though not for much longer), park, learning how to properly kick a soccer ball, etc.)    

So I thought I'd give an update on something and figured since we're at the half way point I'll talk about Spanish.  Yes, that language I've been trying to learn.  First off, learning a language is hard.  There are days where I am honestly exhausted and have a headache just from being more exposed to Spanish than English in a day.  I guess it's good but not too much fun.  Spanish isn't going as well as I could have hoped but at the same time I've learned so much!  But the more I learn the more I realize I don't know anything.  When I first got here I had to first get use to the differences between "southern cone Spanish" and what I had learned.  First off, pronunciations.  Words like: yo, ya, pollo, calle, ayudar, llamar, well anything that has a "y" or a "ll" sound very different.  Instead of a "y" sound it is...not anything like a "y" But I've learned it crazily enough.  Now that sounds natural and when I hear it the other way I get thrown off.  Every once in a while I'll revert to the "y" sound but for the most part I've converted.  Not sure if that's a good thing or not but I think it sounds cooler now!  After that I had to figure out "vos".  It's a different tense.  It's like a more informal "tú".  At first people would ask "¿De dónde sos?" and I had no clue what they meant.  So I had to learn how to understand different conjugations.  I normally use "tú" for verbs but I'll say "y vos" every once in a while.  Makes me feel cool, I'll be honest.  Like I actually know what I'm talking about.  I've learned a lot in general too.  So thats been really good.  And I'm understanding more all the time.  I still have to ask "¿Comó?" a lot because I rarely understand people the first time they say anything.  Mostly because I don't realize that anyone is talking to me.

While I was in Argentina I bought a book.  It's about violence in soccer, really interesting stuff.  But it's in Spanish.  I've been reading that.  It's not really an easy book to read.  I mean I could have read a kid's novel but this was cheap and sounded like fun.  It's been really good for me though.  At the beginning I struggled to read it.  It would take me forever to read a page and I would finish and have no clue what it all meant.  Now I'm reading faster and understanding a lot more.  Comprehension is one of my big problems.  Both in reading and listening.  I can listen to a sermon at church and understand the words that they are saying, and sometime even put it together in phrases and sentences, but then after church I can't tell you what the service was exactly about.  I can say it was something about this or that but I don't know.  Even reading I can understand it but I can't retain it.  I'll have to work on that.  I also bought Narnia in Spanish but haven't started reading it.  I'm going to finish my soccer book.

A while back I had to watch a movie for Spanish class.  She said we could use English subtitles and we might not have but the a couple of the guys wanted to watch it and didn't know Spanish very well so we used them until the disk messed up.  Luckily there was another disk but that one had just Spanish subtitles.  I was really proud though how well I did.  When I read a book I can take longer on a sentence, phrase, or concept, which isn't a bad thing, but watching this made me think faster.

Spanish music too!  Especially "La Oreja de Van Gogh" and "El Sueño de Morfeo."  :)

So yeah there is a little bit about how my Spanish is going.  In some ways I wish it could have been a complete immersion program (that'll make you learn) but it's not... I don't regret that though.  I've made great friends and have developed great relationships with the people here I'm living with.  I wouldn't trade the friends I made.  And I have learned a lot of Spanish. They have also pushed me to do better.  We're all in this and use each other for support and help.  Now that I've talked about Spanish...I'm going to Brazil this Friday!  Where Spanish isn't going to help me... Não falo português.

Spring Break: Patagonia

I’ve been a lot of places and have seen a lot of amazing and beautiful things, but some of the things I saw and places I visited last week were some of the most amazing things I have ever seen and experienced.  Last week was Spring Break and the guys and I went down south.  Really far down south!!!  Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, El Fin del Mundo!  We left Montevideo and went down to Ushuaia.  All the way down to Ushuaia!!!  It’s crazy to think that you’re so far away from home.  It’s almost 6500 miles from home which I think is officially the furthest I’ve ever been away from home.  When we got to Ushuaia I don’t think any of us could be believe how far south we were but we were in the southernmost city (debated but still) in the world!  Ushuaia itself is nothing too special.  It is popular for tourist because of its status as the southernmost city and it is a port for anyone wanting to go to Antarctica.  The city is surrounded by beautiful mountains.  

The first full day in Patagonia we went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.  There we did a couple of hikes.  They were both easy but we walked quite a lot so we were still a bit tired.  One hike was around a lake and another was to the Chilean Border.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the border because we had to go back to catch the last bus back to Ushuaia.  We were so close though and a couple of the guys did make it but had to run.  I would have gone with them if I knew that we were that close but whatever.  Everything was so beautiful!!!  Everywhere you looked was just phenomenally beautiful!!!  It was so much fun to just hang out and go on a couple of relaxing hikes around one of the most beautiful places on the planet! 

The next day we went to Lago Esmerelda with some girls we met in the hostel.  We were told that the hike would be muddy but we had no clue how muddy it would be.  Most of the hike was through peat marshes.  Needless to say our shoes were filthy after the hike and basically destroyed.  There were a couple of harder parts but mostly it was just trying to find where to step or jump to without falling down...  We made it to the lake and it was beautiful!!!  It was a very interesting yet beautiful color.  We ate our sandwiches there but it was so cold so we were anxious to get out of the wind so we headed back and had hot chocolate!  

Monday we rested a bit from the hiking.  We didn’t want to spend money either because everything is so expensive.  So we explore the town a little bit.  Nothing too much.  We thought about doing a boat down the Beagle Channel but we had talked to people who had done that and everyone said that it wasn’t worth it.  So this day was rather uneventful but it was some rest.  We did cook dinner in the hostel that night (and most nights) in order to save money.  

Tuesday we wanted to do something free so we went on a hike to a glacier.  (which wasn’t really that cool but the hike was fun)  We were told that it was a 45 minute walk to the start of the hike and from there it would be a two hour hike.  We could have taken cabs to the start but we didn’t figure that there was a point in spending the money if we could just walk it.  Well the 45 minute walk ended up being a 1 1/2  hour hike in itself.  Then we started the real hike.  There was a chair lift to a point further into the hike but again we were going to do it for free so we walked (hiked) it.  I thought that would be the hard part of the hike.  I was wrong.  The last bit of the hike was very steep and very icy.  There was a lot of slipping, almost falling, sliding, etc.  Fun fun.  But it looked incredible.  (not the glacier, the glacier wasn’t worth it so I didn’t risk my life going all the way do it.  It was beautiful looking out and we could see the city.  It was crazy to think that we had walked from that.  The hard part was descending and going down without slipping and falling.  We got down to where the hike began and couldn’t find a cab, so we walked all the way back down.  That was a pretty difficult hike...very difficult.  But good and a lot of fun (well after the fact) 

Some of the guys went back to the national park to hike up a summit.  I wanted to but was pretty tired and done with hiking.  I would have but the description said “strenuous” and I had no clue what that meant and wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to find out.  I wished I would have gone until the guys got back, and they were so worn out and looked a bit miserable so then I was ok staying.  I just went to shops and a book store.  There are apparently some great museums in Ushuaia that I went to check out but they all were 90 pesos (about $18!!!) and I didn’t feel like it was worth it.  

Thursday we went to El Calafate.  Our plane was delayed for about 4 hours.  The Ushuaia airport is rather boring.  

Friday we were in El Calafate and this was our only day here.  I didn’t know what this place was before this but was super glad we went.  We could add the flight for only $5 which isn’t too bad. Since the plane was delayed the previous day we didn’t get there in time to reserve our seats on a bus to the Glacier park so we took cars instead.  Which ended up being nicer because we weren’t bound by the bus and could stop and take pictures on the side of the road and take our time.  We went to the Perito Moreno Glacier and it was fantastic.  We saw it from up about 7 km away then moved up closer.  It was so cool!  We watched it for a while and saw pieces fall off.  We walked around there and then as we were about to leave we saw a HUGE chunk fall off into the water.  It was so cool to see and just completely crazy!!!  We were so blessed to see that.  The glacier was huge!!!  

This whole week was great and a lot of fun!  We spent a lot of time getting to know each other even better (as you do on vacations), cooking good and bad meals, hiking a lot, being very sore, etc. It was great and I was a bit sad for it to be over.  This week will be pretty busy!  But good!  We have some exciting things coming up.  We’ve past the half way point of the semester (which is crazy!!!) but there are some great things that have yet to come.  This week I’m going to start leading an English “conversation club” to help people practice their English, go to see the Uruguay Soccer team against Paraguay and more!!! 

Rocha

Last weekend we went to Rocha.  Which didn't actually mean the city Rocha but La Paloma and some surrounding stuff.  Close enough.

Friday was pretty hectic.  We got up and drove to Pirapolis and saw a view of the city then continued driving and went to Casa Pueblo which is outside of Punta de Este.  It's pretty cool!  It is a museum/resort where an Uruguayan artist keeps his collection.  We went to the museum part.  There were some I really liked!  Besides it looks really cool!  We had a picnic and then continued onto Punta and went back to the fingers sculpture and took pictures. Then we continued onto La Paloma.  But on the way there is a cool bridge and we crossed over it.  And then turned around to do it again! As you can see why!

We arrived in a small beach town that afternoon and then went to the beach!  This was actually the Atlantic so it's a lot colder than the water in the Rio de la Plata in Montevideo!  But it really wasn't that bad.  We went out and "body surfed" for a while.  It was cold but whenever you got use to it, it wasn't bad at all.  So we hung out there for a while and then went out to eat that night.  It was someone's birthday so we went out for ice cream!

The next day we were suppose to go to the Ombú forest and then to Cabo Polonio but that morning it was raining and there was apparently a cyclone on the way and thunderstorms.  So plans got canceled.  The guys had already rented a body board so they went out to the beach in the morning to get some use out of it before the weather got really bad.  The rain let up and I decided to go on a walk thinking that I'd get out while I could if I was going to be stuck in the hotel the rest of the day.  And it didn't rain again...So we went back out to the beach, they got some more use out of the body board, I met some people from Quebec, and we got pelted by blowing sand.  It hurt a bit...Again the water was cold until you got use to it.  Apparently that morning it was colder and you didn't get use to it because it was still raining outside.
That afternoon I went up the lighthouse in La Paloma and decided that it was going to be a goal to see how many lighthouses I can go up this semester.  Because lighthouses are cool!  Power went out in the whole city...and as soon as I told someone that the power was out in the whole city it came back on. That night we went out to eat and ice cream and then hung out for a while on the porch.  La Paloma is a small town and there are stars and the air is fresh and it was just really nice to get out of the city.  It was cool to see a small, even though it was touristy, town in Uruguay to get a different impression.  We've mostly been in the city so it was interesting to see how other Uruguayans interact.  I really liked La Paloma.  It was really chill.

Sunday we did what we were suppose to do saturday.  We went to the Ombú forest which is a forest of Ombú trees.  Well obviously but ombú trees are really cool.  So we saw that and then went to Cabo Polonio.  Cabo Polonio is a hippy town (for lack of a better description).  It's actually a natural park but people already lived there so there is a small town.  They don't have electricity or running water and very small huts for houses.  There are dunes around and so we had to ride a truck to get out there.  It was quite a ride!  After there the beach was fantastic! And really clean!  There was one that I really wanted to get on but we didn't have a lot of time and there was a red flag because the waves were pretty dangerous so we couldn't swim.  We went to the other beach.  We swam, walked around, went and saw sea lions.  And I went up another lighthouse (that makes 3 this semester!) So that was fun!

Casa Pueblo

Lighthouse in La Paloma

Ombú tree

Lighthouse in Cabo Polonio

We headed home and got back later than we expected but we still got to do a lot and it was a lot of fun!  I love travelling with the group because you get to know people better when you travel.  It was the same in Oxford, the only difference was that in Oxford while travelling I would get to know people who I hadn't really known well before and in Uruguay we're so small that we know everyone well.  So we get to know each other better.  Like this Friday 5 of us are going to Ushuaia!  How crazy is that?!!! I'm so excited!!!