The End of the week and of Montevideo

Hello again,
It has been more than a whole week already? It hardly feels like that. We have been so busy, doing everything imaginable, like school.Well fortunately and unfortunately it is over now...Spanish school. It has been three whole weeks and they have slipped right through my grasp, not to say though that I haven't learned an incredible amount. We had a little celebration today and I got a little certificate of completion. It was overall a really nice school with great teachers and a good learning system. It has been a very good experience. Our whole time here has practically been a blur. Well not completely, we have done so many amazing things in this city, but they all just seem to pass and another day flies by whether you want it to or not. Well...since I last blogged, I have learned much more in Spanish, enough that I could understand about half the sermon in church last Sunday. I am not even close to being fluent I'll have many more weeks and months of conversation before that will happen. I do feel more confident though. It is an improvement for me, but I still feel really stupid talking to people, another thing yet to practice. Other than Spanish, we went to a Murga which is like a parade with drums and dancers and some girls with " un poco ropa " we called them, and lots of people doing whatever the heck they wanted within the boundaries of the parade. I would not go so far as to say that it was an objectively good event, but it was enjoyable enough, if not interesting. Two days ago we went to Prado, which is the famous park on the edge of Montevideo. It was nice to go somewhere where I could actually see something natural, but in Uruguay things are always small, and this was no bigger than any normal park in California. We also went to these beautiful gardens and church that were near the park, ( I wish I could post pictures, but I don't have a camera cord, ) which was very refreshing after being cooped up for ever in a city. The last interesting thing we did, was our whole family went to the mall ( which is also very small to a Californian like me, but huge to an Uruguayan) and looked for sheets, then I ate MSG soaked Chinese food (and felt very flushed,) and finally we walked to Positos and got gelato -a kind of incredible ice cream here, then went home and plopped in bed. That was our last adventure here in Montevideo. After we go to the ferria- which is like a farmers market tomorrow, we will head off to Piriapolis which is a small beach town 2 hrs away from the city. I am so glad to get out of the city, and be somewhere smaller, the "country" as Chris and Elli call it. We will be staying there in a friend's duplex, for two weeks until my dad comes (yay, ) and then we might leave or we might stay two more weeks. As you can see that since school is over, our plans are very relative and will fluctuate a lot over the next few weeks or months. That is what we are doing for now, since Piriapolis has no Internet access, I will probably won't be able to blog for a while. I am still learning a lot about Uruguay, primarily that I can't go outside of the house without people seriously staring , honking or whistling at me or my sisters. Everyone always says "oh don't worry there are plenty of blonds and pale-skinned people there, you'll fit in fine." But no, unless I go down the street with a dark hat on and tanning lotion I don't think that is gonna happen. Well that is it down in South America, where time never stays still, and each day feels as short as an hour. Anyway, until later then my friends...
In God's perfect plan for our trip,
Julia

Great Expectations

The View of Montivideo from the Beach
My room at the school


The Trash in raised Dumpsters because of Wild Dogs
You Gotta love Milk in a Bag
The Famous Rambla (sadly upside down)
The View of the City from the Rambla

Prado Park
The Uruguay Government Building

A beautiful Gothic church near Prado
A Beautifully Random Statue

Our Church 2 blocks away
A Montivideo Park
Well dear readers,
I am so sorry I have not blogged, for what feels like ages. I have been so busy here in Uruguay. We have now started up Spanish school and that takes up 4 hrs of my day not including homework. I am really enjoying studying in my class of 3 sisters and one man,(who is a farmer from New Zealand); and I really like my two teachers and am learning a tremendous amount from them, but my classes and various other high school work I can fit in to my day, are very time consuming. It has been especially hard because I have a nasty head cold, and trying to fight that, when it is 100% humidity and rain and thunder all day is not particularly easy. So I am afraid I will only be able to blog only on the weekend, but I will make them longer. Unfortunately I also forgot my camera cord so I won't post pictures until Oct. But other than that I am having a great time here in Montevideo. Actually I am lovin' it. Now this is a city of two million, and I am no city girl, but if I had to live in a city I could live here. I say this because it feels less like a "city" then San Luis Obispo. People walk everywhere, I mean EVERYWHERE.It's amazing! People air-dry their clothes on their rooftops,there are adorable little shoppes and beautiful buildings everywhere, intermixed in residential areas,and there are little fruit stands all over the place. Some people may call it haphazard, but I call it charming. The family we were staying with for the first 3 days, had no car. If they needed anything they would walk there. For example, Emily C. - the mom, needed an eraser for something, so she put her baby on her hip, took her toddler's hand and called all the other kids and walked a block to get them from a craft store. It is just so much better than hopping in your car and driving 10 miles to get it at Target or something. Much more efficient. However every good place has it's disadvantages,(except of course heaven :) 1. There are bars on all the windows,in case of theft. 2. There are some not so nice advertisements and magazines as the main feature on some building and magazine stands. 3. People stare, stare, stare and don't even smile. It is the one thing that really gets on my nerves. But I guess it is just something I am going to have to get used to. There are a couple of other kinda quirky things here such as: bagged milk, cream and yogurt, non-refrigerated eggs, and the eighties hair styles- mullets, etc.
But it would probably be scary to name all the strange things in the US. Well I am really loving it here, and I thank God for the great opportunities He has and is giving me. My experiences so far have perfectly fulfilled my great expectations of what I wanted it to be like here in Uruguay and I am sure it will continue to do so as I see more of this beautiful country. Until I write again... and in God's perfect plan for our trip,
Julia

The Panama Detour

Panama Sky Scraper Coast

The View from our hotel



The verdant view from the main road
Even though Panama City is huge it still has a beautiful view of the mountains.



Well I was planning to start this journal blog when we were in Uruguay, but what I am about to write is just an all-to-perfect beginning.-I am dangling my feet off the edge of a 12 story building,sitting on a grass-covered rooftop in Panama, watching an approaching thunderstorm. Sound a little odd? Well it is perfect for me. I sit seeing a whole new world around me.It is so easy to forget that there are other people out in the world living their lives, but thousands of miles away. And every time you see a car zoom past, you know that someone is in it and they have lives and feelings,dreams and families just like us,and they all were once in their mothers wombs,like all of us and yet our lives are so completely seperated. It is more than I can comprehend. Well the reason I am saying any of this is because (to make a long story short), our 2 am flight from La to Panama was delayed till 11 am the next day. that plane was late so we missed our connections from Panama to Montivideo,so we were put up in a hotel in Panama city the whole day till our flight left that night at 7 pm. Thats the story. We are know thankfully safe in Uruguay and will start school Monday.As annoying as it was I thank God for the delay so that I could experience Panama. Well my next post will be about Uruguay,unfortunately I did not remember a camera cord, so I will post the pics of Panama tommorow. Hasta luego!
Julia

A New Beginning...

Well hello my friends,
it has been a dreadfully long time since I posted. I am so sorry. I have been busier then a bee; working, planning, but especially packing. That is actually the new beginning I was talking about. I have decided to use this blog for a Uruguayan journal. I am going to Uruguay and Argentina for three months with my family. We will be vacationing, immersing ourselves in a different culture, and learning Spanish/Espanól. It will be an adventure, for sure. Which is why I am going to blog and post pictures about it. I hope (for the tiny few that do read my blog), that you will enjoy this adventure with me. Adios me amigos!