Day to day life

Every day….September-December 2008

A lot of people have asked what life is like here every day when I am not traveling somewhere. I do actually go to school although it's hard to believe. .For my Latin America and the Arts class we usually visit a museum or historic site and have to write a 500 word essay sometime before the next Wednesday. This class is actually the hardest because the museum and tours are often in Spanish and therefore I rarely learn any more about the museum by the time I leave then when I entered. For Latin American Studies we have had to do different projects.

We also take weekly quizzes of a book called "Born in Blood and Fire" and sometimes watch a movie. We saw Evita and The Mission; one was to acquaint us with Argentina and the other with Brazil. We also went to a Ballet at the Teatro Solis. The experience was pretty cool. The theatre is spectacular as well as world famous.

Spanish is 8 - 10 hours a week. For class, sometimes our homework assignment is to go out and have a conversation with a local about something. We have had some worksheets to do and about 2 tests so far. We are taking 2 semesters of Spanish in one. I think we would have learned a little more than mike... LOL

We are doing Bible online. It is a short course because the professor who was supposed to teach it stayed home to be with his wife who was diagnosed with cancer 10 days before we left. That class will be online and will be split in half by our trip to Brazil and free travel.

I also volunteer 1-2 times a week at the Alianza which is an English language teaching institute that is associated with the United States. They teach English and classes on American culture, history, etc and they are looking for volunteers to teach their conversation clubs and to be interviewed for classes. So far it's been a lot of fun just to talk about who I am and my culture. Sometimes though it just reminds me of how un-stereotypical American I am sometimes. AND finally my favorite p

art of Montevideo…My aerobics class. I don't think I have had as much fun working out as I have had in that class. Overall that has been one of my most positive experiences and I would strongly encourage everyone to participate in a workout class at that gym or another one.

With the rest of our time we usually go to the beach, walk to Ciudad Vieja and just sit the like the locals in a park on a bench, or watch movies up in the loft. The latter has become the procrastination vice of the entire casa. I think I have seen every episode of the office at least twice by this point. For dinner we usually cook, eat left over, or go to Las Palmas, if we are really broke we will go get pizza for about 2.50 for a half of a meter or a hamburger for a 1.50. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday we have a chapel/announcement service. We sing praise songs, and lift up prayer requests.

Our favorite part of everyday is lunch because Raquel and Mariella are the most amazing cooks ever. I am a pretty picky eater when it comes to flavor of food. They have never made anything I have not liked. And they bake a new cake, cookies, donuts, or some amazing dessert every single day. It great living in community with others, sometimes it annoys the heck out of me and other times my heart aches when I realize how different next semester will be. So…basically day to day life here rocks! Even when we are really bored we always find something fun to do :)