Pennies and Pesos

So, I definitely brought back pieces of Uruguay with me... intentionally and non-intentionally.

1. I have still not exchanged my pesos (argentinian and uruguayan) for dollars. I, also, keep rediscovering two half pesos that live in my wallet and pretend to be nickels. It makes me smile every time I see them though. Edit: I, also, discovered ten brazilian reals in my shorts the other day. When I add up all this money, I'm sure I'll be surprised in how much mulah I have in foreign currency. If I wait long enough, I can add some won to it.

2. Buenos Aires Safety Measurement: I feel like I am invincible just about anywhere in the States now because I survived Buenos Aires. I have a really bad sense of invincibility now. Really bad. For example, I stood under a lone streetlight waiting for the bus at 11pm on a sketchy street corner a week ago and thought nothing of it. Before I would have just stayed at my friends house and had her take me home the next day. Yeaaaah.

3. Preserving my uruguayan accent is so hard without other people speaking it back to me. In fact, I'm in a Spanish Linguistics class and people actually laugh when we go over the voseo and the sheismo that are widely used in Uruguay. So, it becomes an issue of self-consciousness and just naturally losing the accent since I'm no longer exposed to it. Its frustrating and now has me wanting to retire in Argentina instead of Mexico. Sorry, Mexico.

4. A guy briefly presented Uruguay (specifically Montevideo) a few weeks ago at the Spanish club where I work. It had been a few years since he'd been there. So, I schooled him :P. Nah, I just helped him out a little. It made me realize that while I don't think of Uruguay on a daily basis anymore, I still remember it very well.

5. Food items that I became familiar with in Uruguay and later found here in the States: Knorr soups, Cadbury chocolate bars, and Bimbo brand bread. To the best of my knowledge none of these brands are uruguayan although Knorr might be. And, I saw a brand of yerba (for maté) that was sold in Uruguay, but I can't remember the brand for the life of me. I don't know why this food thing matters to me, but I think its cool to find stuff in a foreign place that is sold at home too and vice versa. I think its partially why I loved m&ms, Hershey's Cookie and Cream bar, and snickers so much while I was in Uruguay although in the US I don't really eat them outside of Halloween.

6. This is off topic, but I'm 90% sure I'm going to South Korea when I graduate. I'll probably start a blog about it during the summer and I'll put a link in this blog in case anyone wants to hear more of my ramblings, but about a different part of the world. I don't know Korean at all except that I can say "hi", "kimchi", "thank you", "tiger" and "ski". At least the first three will actually be useful. Also, I'll be going for work *gasp* and not school so it will be very different from my study abroad experience. I'm excited.

On to the Next One

I finally feel like I've almost fully left Uruguay behind. Two months ago yesterday (Feb. 21) is when I left Uruguayan soil for home and already I'm losing my accent and re-adjusted my diet to fast food burgers. However, I can't stop saying "Well, in Uruguay..." or "When I was in Uruguay..." at least 5 times a day. I annoy myself sometimes, but then again it was my life the past year, so its hard to just pretend it didn't happen.

Thankfully, I gave my presentation on Uruguay last Wednesday which both made me feel closer to Uruguay and farther away at the same time. For 45 mins I got to tell a room full of people all about my experiences and what my life was like in another freakin' country. It was nerve-wrecking, but it was so great to blabber on and on about all the things that I, personally, thought were awesome about Uruguay and remember all the things I left behind.

I'm glad I did it not only because it was an opportunity to force people listen to me talk about Uruguay this and Uruguay that, but it also worked as a great way to say goodbye to Uruguay. I know I left the country two months ago, but it has still been with me everywhere I go. And, I miss it terribly of course, but I need to move on to the other adventures life has to offer.

As for this blog, I don't want to say this is the last post because I'm sure I'll discover other Uruguay related things to write about, but as for my experience there and reading about how Uruguay has touched my life this is probably the last one. I'll still check it every now and then for new comments and such and maybe post every know and then, but I'm moving on to a new blog to post about my more recent experiences. I'm not sure if I'm willing to share it with you guys since I'm still working on it, but I will consider it.

Alright, I'm one more paragraph from getting misty-eyed so chau!

Christmas Cheer in Punta Carretas

This is delayed, but the same day I left a group surprised the Christmas shoppers in Punta Carretas Shopping with a song. Its pretty sweet.

Blackness in a White Nation

I had someone comment that they wanted to know what I felt like being black in Uruguay so I thought I would address it. I haven't spoken about it before because this didn't seem to be the right audience for it, but now that someone has asked I have no problem doing it. I already talked a little bit about it in my post titled Afro-Uruguayans, but I'll expound a little.

Uruguay is one of the most homogenous populations in South America, if not the most homogeneous, where the population is majority caucasian. Naturally I stuck out like a sore thumb and my afro wasn't helping matters either. To be honest though, I live in Nowhere, North Carolina where there isn't a well represented population of African Americans either so its not like it shocked me. Although, I would say that in comparison Uruguay has less blacks than here in Nowhere, NC.

Fortunately, I was never hassled or talked down to or anything because of my skin color, which is always great, but I did notice that people treated me a little different sometimes. I feel like people would look at me longer and in a way that made sure I wasn't trying something sometimes. I even had a few kids point me out to their parents which I just thought was cute. Some subtle things happened, of course, where people would jerk their kids away from me or like the example I gave in the other post a guy in McDonalds saw me and pushed his wife to his other side away from me, put his arm around her, and would keep looking at me every few seconds. It was pretty rude, but, hey, what could I do?

Just like in the US there is still some ignorance from people who have never come into contact with people of color, but you just have to learn to take it in stride, especially when you're in other countries. In situations like that I would just try to not give them any reason to think of me as a sketchy character by taking my hands out of my pockets, not looking at them, and just being polite. I would say that 98% of the time though I was treated just like any other person/ foreigner and even like a regular Latin American from the times people thought I was from Brazil or somewhere else.

I would definitely say to not let your skin color keep you from going though. I never met a mean Uruguayan (do they even exist?) and they treat you like a regular person. Just be prepared to stick out a little.

By the way, I plan to research this topic of Afro-Uruguayans because it has really drawn my interest since I can't seem to find more information on it through Google search. I was looking up an Afro-Latin American textbook for a class I'm taking with a similar name and found a book titled Blackness in a White Nation: A History of Afro-Uruguay by George Reid Andrews that I plan on starting with. You know, in case you're interested as well.

America!

Whew, that was the longest plane ride ever... Haha not. So, let's finish this thing up shall we?

I was actually so ready to get back home to AMERICA that last day, ya'll. (Yes, my southern accent is back). That was the longest line ever when I was in line for American Airlines to check in. I swear. The ride in was pretty smooth. In Miami the Homeland Security officer even said "Welcome back" to me. I felt special. Also, I went through numerous security check points and didn't have to go through the new TSA scanner once. Awesome! Though I did notice it took longer to get through security than before in Miami-- and we got there at 5am.

I remember talking to my dad for the first time in months on my American cell phone on the tram in the airport. I was smiling like an idiot and despite it being 5am my dad was wide awake to talk to me. Aww. And, my family was awesome and on time for my arrival. My brother ran up to me and almost knocked me over in the airport and they gave me welcome back balloons. I, also, went home and had welcome back party things all over my room. Its almost 2 months later and they are still up there. What can I say, they make me happy.

I did go through a stage of reverse culture shock where I kept constantly comparing things to how they were in Uruguay and just being confused about the time and where I was as in orientating myself that home is now a tangible and not just a place in the general America direction. I'm still adjusting slightly. That whole thing where they say you come back a different person and not everyone wants to hear about your awesome adventures abroad was totally true. Its kind of frustrating realizing I am no longer friends with a lot of people anymore (I guess we weren't such great friends anyways) and have a whole year of my life where I wasn't here to see things happen and change. But then I start talking to someone about my year in Uruguay and it puts things back into perspective.

I do horribly miss speaking Spanish though. I'm talking real Spanish and only in Spanish. People are just so scared to speak Spanish and its really hard to get people to speak to me in only Spanish and not Spanglish. I've noticed that only the people who studied abroad even feel comfortable enough to do so. Its weird. So, I'm definitely trying to speak Spanish as much as I can by volunteering and working in environments where its necessary to do so.

But I'm actually doing a presentation on my experience in Uruguay next week (Feb. 16th) where I will be speaking in Spanish so I'm uber excited about that.

I don't know I'm just so greatly to be back. Being abroad was awesome, but I'm glad to be back. God bless America :D

Home Stretch

With hours remaining in my study abroad experience I would like to recount my last few days in Uruguay which went a little like this:

Exams were done for me on Friday morning and, man, it felt great. I mostly spent the weekend packing and hanging out with as many people as I could and especially my host family. I had my farewell dinner on Saturday which was fun and Sunday night I made barbecue meatballs with rice as a thank you to Analia and Mary for dealing with me and my intermediate Spanish for 10 months. And, being the nostalgic person I am, I made sure to eat at all my favorite places and see my favorite sites before now.

I even managed to finally work up the nerve to go see the ashes of Artigas in Plaza de Independencia and that was unexpectedly scary. I happened to be the only person in that dark, spacious room along with two statues, or rather Uruguayan soliders. Apparently, they can't move, talk or anything as they guard the ashes and it was pretty scary since I knew nothing of this and with their spiffy uniforms they looked like very well constructed soliders like the nutcracker statues. It scared the crap out of me when I realized they were watching me taking pictures and that they had rifles on them. The light on the stairs that kept flashing on and off didn't make the situation any better either.

Also, I took out money before going to the Tristan Narvanja outdoor market and just went crazy buying things I've always been eyeing and doing my souvenir/ Christmas shopping. It was cool because the venders were actually being chatty with me so I got to talk to some of them and observe my further progress with Spanish as they hardly gave me any confused looks as I used English syntax for a Spanish sentence. I seriously love those moments where you can see what kind of progress you're making with Spanish.

I am super tired and this post is all crazy. I'll edit later. I just wanted to get it out because obviously tomorrow I'll be feeling much different.

Christmas isn't Suppose to be Hot

I feel like I'm in an alternate universe with it being so HOT around Christmas time. Not to be gross, but my hands are actually sweating as I type this. That is not suppose to happen. I'm suppose to be walking around in a jacket and all times and stealing my mom's heating blanket. In fact, I'm usually home from school right now. Its. so. weird. But nice. Apparently its snowing up there in NC already which is usually doesn't do until late winter which means it has to be freezing up there. Nothing makes you appreciate the heat like knowing you will be going home in a few days where its in the 40s.

Another bizarre thing about the holiday season here, for me, is the lack of Christmas spirit and decoration. Its definitely there, but I'm used to being bombarded by Christmas commercials galore and gaudy decorations all over the place. Its a lot more chill. Tres Cruces knows how to get Christmas poppin' though. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention to the music to see if they were playing Christmas songs, but there were definitely a lot of discounts going on and whole lot of people there for a Thursday.

Even though I'm more than ready to go home and celebrate with my family a small part of me kind of wants to stay here and see how they get their Christmas on. Its much different in that on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) they go out and party. Then they wake up late on Christmas day and open presents and just spend time with family. I think they also shoot off fireworks as I saw someone today selling them on the street, but then again those could be for New Year's. And, since families usually live pretty close together airports aren't packed (said the American Airlines lady) in Latin America. I found that interesting.

Here's our Christmas tree. I think it makes it seem like we live in the desert, haha. Its made of twigs and has colored rocks in the glass vase.

For those feeling a bit miffed after I failed to do 31 posts in October I hope to make it up in the next few days with a bunch of blogs I've been meaning to write. If anyone has any suggestions or something else they want to know about life in Uruguay let me know asap.

Speaking of heat, here's a link to my Beach Week photo album. Click around and you can find my other albums as well.

Being an Introverted Language Learner

'I speak Spanish, I'm just introverted.' This label should be sharpied on to my forehead. I've met so many people who assume I don't speak a lick of Spanish despite being here for ten months and its just not true. A prime example is when a friend of mine, Rodrigo, took me to a music studio to take a class with him. The instructor sensed I wasn't talking very much and interpreted that as me not being able to under him began unnecessarily whipping out every English word he had ever learned while he tried to explain how to create a song on the computer. Every time he asked if I was understanding I would nod my head enthusiastically and insist that I did, but he still had Rodrigo translate just about everything for me until I finally told him that I can understand Spanish perfectly fine.

My thing is I'm not a fan of small talk and I get to the point when I speak. These are not great qualities in a language learner and I'm sure its the reason why my speaking skills still aren't amazing albeit they are SO much better than they used to be. I can't be too bothered by it though as I plan to speak Spanish for the rest of my life which means I'll get plenty of opportunities to keep improving and keep using it. It just kind of sucks though because so many people people probably think I don't like them when in all honesty I just don't know what to say.

I do have to say , however, that what I lack for in speaking skills is made up in my writing skills. Oh, yeah. So, just email me instead.... hah.

So, that was a little bit about me there. If you happen to be an introverted language learner I'd love to hear about it. I think I'm the only one ever I've met and I know there are more people like me out there.

Beach Week: Part 2

Gah, I don't want to write this post but a part one needs a part two, so here we go....

Unfortunately the failed hitchhiking and hand written, probably really old bus schedule that had us all confused, meant I spent the better part of my day waiting for a bus we finally made it to Cabo Polonio. I was only there for three hours as I was running out of time in my trip and frankly didn't think I would have fun is the middle of nowhere but, boy, was I wrong. Cabo Polonio is a.w.e.s.o.m.e. You have to take a 30 minute caravan ride through the countryside and the beach just to get to it, the electricity turns off at 7pm, and they live in something like shacks. If I had the time I so would have stayed there for a few days. The vibe there is so chill and even though I'm a city girl I think I could enjoy that extreme. For a little while at least.

And, after Cabo came Punta del Diablo! I lovelovelove that place. It was a perfect mix of La Pedrera and Cabo Polonia in that it was still a chill place, but there was a little bit more going on in. I can tell its a huge hit for 20-somethings in the summer time. This is even where I got to try out surfing. I was so excited to do so and it was so fun. Its work too. I woke up the next day and definitely felt that workout in my shoulder muscles and my upper abs. I completely know understand why surfers are so ripped. Its completely worth it though. This is also where I met a really cool girl named Michelle from Scotland! We got along really well and she even invited me to stay with her in Scotland if I even made it up there which I hope to live there one day so we'll see.

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And the moment you've all been waiting for... my stalker who really didn't stalk me (although it sounds better) so we'll call him a creeper. UGH. He grossed me out. OK, so I was in Rocha on my way to La Pedrera from Punta del Este when he walks by me with his friend and casually says 'hola' without breaking his stride. My guard was down after the dinner I just finished so I non-committedly uttered it back and turned my head when out of the corner of my eye I see dude stop and turn around. Oh my gosh. Before I know it he is sitting next to me telling me how beautiful I am and that he is going to go to sleep dreaming about me and how there aren't girls in Rocha that look like me and have my beauty. Puh-lease. I just did my best to fake like I didn't know Spanish very well, especially when he was talking about kissing me and coming to Cabo Polonia with me. Thank GOD my bus was arriving soon so I could get out of there.

Oh, you thought that was it?! Here is the best part. He kept on staring at me as I waited for my bus then as I chose my seat on the SAME SIDE as the park. Mistake. He ran up to the bus asking for a Uruguayan kiss-- heck no! Right as it was about to pull off he ran up to the door again still asking for a kiss. The bus driver assistant gave me the weirdest look ever and I just said adelante with a hand gesture that together meant don't-ask-just-freaking-go. And even better I had to go to Rocha TWICE after this incident as a lot of buses go through there and was thanking my lucky stars that I didn't see him again. No one in that park tried to help me out either. Thanks a lot, guys. END