Snapshot of life in Montevideo

I am sitting inside my apartment wearing two layers of Spandex, huddling under a down comforter, and sipping on a mug of steaming tea that is alternating between being delicious and scalding my tongue.  It is winter in Montevideo, and despite the fact that winter here is remarkably warmer than winter in the United States (especially my last winter in Colorado), the humidity and lack of central heating make the coldness cut through to your bones and settle around you in an ominous cloud that refuses to dissipate.  I am fighting the urge to turn on my space heater because both my roommates and my landlord have let me know that I have been jacking up the electricity bill more than my fair share.  They advised me to do like the Uruguayans do and dress more warmly inside.  When in Rome, do as the Romans do, so I’m trying, but the cold is making my resentment for all of them just sink deeper into my bones with the cold.  

It would help if I could stream some bootlegged movies from my computer, but the wireless internet is down.  I called my landlord earlier about this problem, and she merely informed me that one of my other roommates had already called her about the same thing, but that the entire wireless network is down right now in our area.  Between my lack of complete fluency in Spanish, her raspy voice due to a cold, my hatred of talking on the phone in foreign languages, and my suspicion that she really didn’t actually know what was going on, I resigned myself to accept the lack of internet and hope that some Uruguayan engineer would be able to fix whatever she meant by a ²fiber optic network problem² soon enough.  I settle in to distract myself by alternatively playing more Candy Crush Saga (recent addiction that stemmed from my family’s visit) on my phone and reading the second installment of the Harry Potter series in Spanish.  

I am bored and frustrated with all of the resignation that has crept into my resolve recently, but I try to accredit this to the fact that I have not really started working in Montevideo yet.  It seems complicated because a lot of the schools still have mid-term exams going on or have strikes going on, and in both of these cases, it would be pointless for me to go.  Therefore, I am trying to distract myself.  I have started running more, I have joined a Frisbee team, and I have looked into yoga, art, and Spanish classes to try to keep myself busy.  I have made goals to try to start blogging and journaling more and to try to make some preliminary post-Fulbright plans.  

My only concrete plan come November right now is to go home and savor life in the United States for the month that includes Thanksgiving and the start of Christmas.  My next goal for this blog is to try to accurately describe how I actually feel about this experience so far and what it really means to be a Fulbrighter.  The conference we had with the ETAs from Argentina has made me reflect back on a lot of the problems and experiences I have had and put them in a broader perspective, but it is still hard for me to describe how I truly feel about the overall experience when people ask.  I will think about that during my run on the rambla today.  My resolve to not turn on the heater cracked when my resolve to run hardened; now my room is filled with a warm, red glow as I pull on running clothes to confront the gray, windy shore.

Blogging Fail, but Life Update Anyway

Hello World!

I realize I am still failing at blogging, but I have started keeping my own personal journal, as well, and I just seem to be able to write better in that for some reason.  I will try to keep up the blog more effectively during the second half of my experience.

I successfully finished up my time in Paysandu, found an apartment (barely), and moved to Montevideo.  We had an awesome conference immediately following my arrival with all the ETAs who are currently in Argentina.  I met some people who I honestly think I will be in touch with for the rest of my life (in the way the way that only rambla runs, late-night sushi, grappamiel, rooftop shenanigans, early morning (or late night) nsync songs and bus farewells can bond you).

My family will be arriving tomorrow morning so stay tuned for Argentina adventures and skiing in the Andes!!

Some goals for the next stage of my Uruguayan adventure: practice more Spanish, find activities to do to stay sane (yoga, frisbee, running, coffee shop culture), keep up blogging and communication more, travel more, soak in the culture (drink mate, be less organized, sleep more).

Besote, Blaire

A Uruguayan Cooking Experience

Let me start by saying that I have problems trying to cook typical American food here because most of the ingredients that we use (and usually take for granted) are really hard to find here and usually really expensive if you can find them... 

However, there are some foods that I kind of have to at least try to make no matter where I am (chocolate chip cookies, macaroni and cheese, hot chocolate, chili, stew-type dishes, etc.).  And what better way to procrastinate doing my work than by cooking, right? Right.

Let me start by saying that I never even tried to bake anything in Argentina because I did not know how to turn on the oven/ was too afraid to turn on the oven.  You have to use a lighter or a burning piece of paper and the gas pops on all at once.  I think I should receive congratulations for now being able to do this without burning down the entire apartment complex (I mean, I havent yet caught anything else on fire...). Besides that, I made these cookies without being able to find brown sugar (I used honey?), chocolate chips (I bought a type of chocolate that I thought was semi-sweet... turns out it was the type of chocolate that youre supposed to melt and use to ice cakes, still chocolate, though...) or baking soda (I doubled the baking powder.  And without a mixer (I spent a long time beating the butter, sugar, honey, and eggs.  They actually turned out alright, though.  I mean, I still ate them. haha.

ALSO, I made chili and cornbread!!  The cornbread is probably the easiest thing, but I had to ask mom the first time because the only kind of cornmeal/corn flour I can find here is polenta and I wasnt sure if that was the same or not (thanks mom!).  The chili is fine and actually turns out surprisingly well considering I dont have chili powder... imagine me in a uruguayan grocery store staring at all of the spices trying to figure out what most closely resembles chili powder... at least my host mom and sister really like it, so I know it is at least edible.

I am actually giving a class presentation about Thanksgiving tomorrow so I may try to make an apple pie tonight to take because I do not think I can talk about all that food without eating something.  Plus, who wouldnt appreciate an apple pie?  (Dad, if you want to stop by and help, that would be sweet, I know you like apple pie :) 

I will update all of you if I actually catch anything on fire... wish me luck lighting the oven tonight... haha

Concord and Concordia

I traveled to Salto again this past weekend and Shamari and I visited Concordia, Argentina.  We primarily walked (semi) aimlessly around, ate lots of food, and slept... it was great.  We took a boat across the river from Salto on Saturday morning and we took a taxi back to the border on Sunday where a friend picked us up.  Then, of course, we had an asado by the river, hung out, played a little soccer, and ate delicious food (thanks Alejandro y Jesus!)
Pictures!
Here is Shamari with his long-sought after brownie (without nuts!) and smoothie (it's really hard to find brownies in Uruguay, especially without nuts)

 Here's a picture of me with a delicious submarino, which is basically like hot chocolate on steroids because they give you real chocolate and you just stir it together.

 I've become a border rat :)... this is me sitting in the sun on the border of Uruguay and Argentina while we waited for Jesus to pick us up (yes, we got a ride from Jesus).

Here is a picture of the river where we had the asado and Michael and Nicolas playing soccer (we had to chase the ball to prevent from going into the river several times, this was mostly my fault, because I have such good coordination...)

I'm back in Paysandu now, and this week has brought more of a routine.  I'm beginning to actually do work and give presentations in classes and interact with the students more.  I've also started to get in a running routine, which is great, and I love running by the river because it's really pretty and it's still warm here.  I've started going to Chemistry classes (in spanish!) as well and I can understand more than I thought I would.  I think (I hope) my spanish is getting a little better every day... it's still hard to communicate sometimes, and I can understand more than I can say, but I'm working on it.  I had to give a presentation about myself and the Fulbright program objectives (why I'm here) last night to a library full of high school teachers in Spanish.  I don't think it went fantastically, but I do think they could understand me and my mentors reassured me that no, I didn't look like total idiot, and I did "very well." Yay :)

More Pictures- my mentor, Adriana took this picture of me with some students during our first conversation "club" yesterday.

I took this picture when I was running by the river in the sunshine :)

I took this picture of some horses by the river, too (the one laying down isn't dead, it's a baby and I think it was trying to bother it's mom, or being lazy, both of which I'm sure my mom is used to...)

I'll post some more pictures of where I'm living/ my room after I've cleaned it a bit ;)

went swimming, found chili and corn bread

The fact that I pretty much need to be busy all the time in order to be productive was recently reinforced.  I thought for some reason that "part time" teaching actually meant "full time" and that I would be busy all the time... not true.  I again have free time, which is good because after I've looked up all the words I don't know each day in my dictionary, it's usually time to go to sleep.  However, I've also begun pursuing activities that could form the base of my side project(s).

First, I found a new running buddy!!  His name is Finde, he is five months old, furry, and full of energy (pictured below).  He belongs to my "mama" my host mom's mom.

I also joined a rowing club that has a gym and a pool where I can swim (I went today for the first time).  My mom is actually a south american champion swimmer and my host sister rows so I think we're all going to go one day (and I'm sure I'll get my butt kicked, but it will be fun).  I also registered for a 5K race at the end of the April in Montevideo that is organized by Nike Uruguay and is called "She Runs Montevideo" it's an all women's race! I'm pumped about it especially because I will need to find more running buddies when I move to Montevideo in June.

Tonight, I made chili and cornbread for dinner in my apartment (sunset view from the balcony).

It was delicious and we had a surprise American visitor who rode his bike from California down here, and he is staying with us tomorrow.  I made no bake cookies, as well, and it was kind of like being home, except my cooking was not as good as mom's, I had to look up the names of all the ingredients to buy them, and had to light the stove and oven with matches... and forgot to turn the gas off... but then remembered when my host mom smelled it :)

I've also begun my search for a coffee shop in which to hang out.  Today, I went to an adorable place and got a cafe con leche and alfajor (below!).  It awesome and delicious, but I was also the only one there because it's in the back of a store, so I'm not sure how often I'll go there because I felt a little like I was interrupting the otherwise very tranquil environment.

To finish, I taught at the high school (Liceo 1) for the first time today.  It went pretty well.  I'm supposed to speak English all the time, but I think I need to figure out a compromise because it seemed like a lot of the students couldn't understand a lot of what I said.  However, I'm also going to start sitting in on high school chemistry classes (in spanish!) next week... so I'm sure that will be interesting and probably make my brain hurt in every way possible (but that means it's growing, right?).

Semana Santa

The past week I have not had any work or classes because it's "Holy Week" here leading up to Easter.  Therefore, I went on several mini trips with Shamari and Jenny, the other two Fulbright ETAs.  First, I moved my belongings into the apartment in which I am living last Saturday and promptly left the same day to take a bus to Salto (the city where Shamari lives).  I arrived to find an asado (barbecue) and a bunch of students from Shamari's school waiting (below).

The next day we went to the "termas" which are very close to Salto and are basically like a bunch of very warm swimming pools.  It was very fun and relaxing and felt like summer, especially because I got sunburned :)

 Also, we made many ice cream excursions because I'm basically obsessed with dulce de leche ice cream (and dulce de leche in general).  Especially because I'm officially not sick anymore and am hungry again!

 After hanging out and exploring Salto for about two days then left on a night bus to go to Rivera/Santana, which is on the border between Uruguay and Brasil (we went to Brasil!!)

 I obviously had to do a few dance moves and cartwheels across the border :).  We also went to a Brazilian buffet, where for about $10, you got as many side dishes as you want and the servers would walk around with skewers of meat for as long as you were sitting down.  I don't speak Portugues well (or really at all) but it was delicious and I learned how to say "thank you" (obrigado!).
After our brazilian adventures and bus ride back to Salto, we were going to go to Argentina but the plans fell through because of passport complications, missing keys, and exhaustion.  So we hung out with our friends in Salto for another full day and left for Paysandu (my city!) the next day all together.  We all stayed in my new apartment (I'll post some pictures of it later) together thanks to my gracious host mom, Alejandra.  We went with my mentor, Carla to the little town next to Paysandu called Casa Blanca to watch the sunset over the river.  The four of us are below.

The sunset was beautiful, and right across the river is Argentina, so I'm sure I will go very soon :)

Shamari and Jenny left the following day to return to Salto and Montevideo.  Now I am adjusting to the apartment and life in Paysandu.  I need to make a boatload of powerpoint presentations before Monday haha

First week in Paysandu

Hello everyone!
I realize I have not been great about blogging.  I apologize, but I was actually sick.  I got to Paysandu last Saturday, and I honestly haven't felt normal since before I left the states, but I thought I was fine.  Well, I'm staying in a hotel right now and I went to some of the first classes I'll be helping with on Monday.  After that class, I met with my mentors and they made me go see a doctor because I hadn't stopped coughing, they were worried, and I felt warm.  Well, my fever was 104 degrees (40 Celsius) and I'm on antibiotics, cough medicine, and have medicine in case my fever comes back, but I'm much better now! And I've also gotten more insight as to how nice, caring, and helpful the people are here.  My mentor took me home with her, called various doctors until she found one whose house we could go to instead of waiting at the emergency room for three + hours.  Then, the doctor was the nicest woman ever and inspected me and gave me all the medicine for no charge.  I also spent that night at my mentor's house so she could make sure I was definitely ok before I went back to the hotel (Mom and Aunt Dell will be proud that I wrote them both thank you notes with chocolate :)
My students also seem awesome so far.  All of them are really interested in where I'm from, why I'm here, and want to show me around Paysandu so I can get to know the culture better.  I have all of next week off (so I'll actually have time to explore more), and I'm meeting up with the other Fulbrighters for part of it, but we'll also be in Paysandu for part of it because it's "Beer Week" and there are huge parties and live concerts every night.  When I better know what we're doing, I'll let you know.   Also, here is a picture of me in Montevideo on my first day in front of Rio de la Plata!

Also, here is a picture of one of my classes and I that I just took because I was showing them some pictures of my life on my computer.  I'm on the far right, and my mentor, Adriana, is on the far left.