¡Chau, Bella!

Another week in Uruguay. I´ve been here for only 3 weeks and one day and I feel like I´ve accomplished so much already. I´ve actually had people tell me already that they´ve noticed how my Spanish has improved. Say what?! The girls and me offically switched to Spanish last Monday and while we still speak in English more than we should I can see everyone improving.

We started to learn el voseo in our foreigner Spanish class on Friday and I feel like I understand people so much better now! El voseo is a verb form that is only used around the Río de Plata, so mostly Uruguay and Argentina speak using it along with some regions of Paraguay. It´s a simple verb tense to learn and I can definitely recognize it now, however, it will take me a little while to begin to use it. It´s easier to use ´vos´ when I don´t have to conjugate a verb after it, so instead of ´¿Puedo ir contigo?´ you would say ´¿Puedo ir con vos?´. Súper easy!

I haven´t really done anything new this week what with school and unfortunately contracting food poisoning on Friday. The school work isn´t that difficult, but I´m not used to having to read about 40 pages of Spanish for homework. It´s pretty slow going and a lot of the works were written in old Spain Spanish, so that means new vocabulary and old verb tenses that aren´t used anymore. The work isn´t impossible, though, and I can´t wait for next semester when reading 40 pages of Spanish won´t be such a hassle.

As far as the food poisoning is concerned, I´m still not 100% sure what caused it. I´ve been fixing a lot of my own food lately, so I think this is something I did to myself. No one else is sick so it can only be the food that I bought for myself that caused it. I want to blame the ham, but I really don´t know. It´s my second time having it and to be honest I´m glad it finally happened because part of traveling is food poisoning or the more common TD. Of course, I still need to watch what I eat, but my body should be more adjusted to the types of bacteria found in the food and the water here and that means I can be more adventurous when I eat out...not.

Edit: I actually had gastrointesti-something. It´s just like food poisoning except it´s caused by a virus and tends to last about a week and instead of a day or two. It didn´t affect me as much since I´m already lactose intolerant and experience stomach aches regulary. I only felt slight discomfort while Rachel, on the other hand, ended up missing a few days of school and couldn´t eat for two days. Probecita.

Semana Santa is coming up. It´s like Spring Break in the States except it´s really an observance of Holy week which is what Semana Santa stands for. Makes you almost think twice about what you are going to do during the break... almost. We found out our school is a super Catholic school (Opus Dei) so, of course, they would observe this holiday. This is our one chance before exams to go as far as we can in South America for a whole week and a bunch of people have already booked tickets for Río de Janiero and are working on their visas. The schedule for Río doesn´t work for me and my classes, so I think I´m going to head for Caractas (I hope I spelled that right). It´s a place with a big waterfall where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay join, so I would have an option of visiting either of the three countries when I get there. I still don´t know if I´m going by myself of not, but I refuse to sit here and do nothing during this whole week off, so if I must go by myself then I shall!

I am still enjoying it here and even plan on starting to read the newspaper, so I can know what´s happening and get more of an idea about the culture here. I, also, want to visit the feria, or an outside market, in Parque Rodó which is a short walk from where I live. I´ve read about it online and want to check it out for myself.

¡Chau, bellos! (I don´t think this is actually said here but I said it to Analía one day and she laughed, so why not?)