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