Settling in

Well you can tell what I've been doing for the past week . . . and it's not been writing blog entries. I spent Carnaval (Monday and Tuesday of last week) and this past weekend in Punta del Este, Uruguay's famed resort beach. On Saturday night, we (my Rotary host counselor Roberto, his wife Alicia, son Federico and friends) had a cookout (parillada), a very common activity in Uruguay. The food included salad and various meats, and of course Uruguayan wine. Notably, we ate morcilla, a dark sweet sausage filled with raisins and blood, and asado, ribs that are cut in the opposite direction then the way we usually eat them. Tomorrow, I am attending the weekly meeting for Rotary Club Montevideo, which takes place in the center of Montevideo. I will be introducing myself and speaking for a few minutes to about 100 Uruguayan businessmen and professionals. I'll let you know how it goes. For more photos, click here. To view photo comments, click on each individual photo instead of watching the slide show.

First Week in Montevideo

I sat down to dinner with my host family around 9:00 Monday night to a spread of steak and potatoes, and Mauro the 17-year old son in the family filled my cup up with a brightly colored orange liquid. “Tang,” he said. The accent made the word hard to recognize, but the intense orange color of the liquid made it unmistakable; I was about to drink the same orange powder I downed as a little girl watching Sesame Street.

It was oddly familiar in a completely new world. Since arriving to Montevideo on Saturday afternoon, I have hit the ground running and am adjusting very easily to my new way of life here. Uruguay is in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it’s now the middle of summer and heading into fall. Montevideo sits on the coast of Rio de la Plata (right across the water from Buenos Aires), and the beaches get prettier as you head along the Uruguay’s coast toward the Atlantic Ocean.

My first view of Uruguay’s coast came Sunday when Roberto Bertoni, my Rotary Host Counselor in Montevideo--who has been incredibly helpful in everything from finding an apartment to getting a cell phone--invited me to accompany him to Punta del Este, Uruguay’s resort beach, where his family was waiting for him. Fortunately, I was ready for an adventure. As Roberto and I hopped on his motorcycle and zipped through city traffic for the 120 km trip, I held on for dear life and felt entirely too old for my age. When we finally arrived to Punta del Este, my cheeks tingled for minutes afterwards. Exilerated and surrounded by bright sand and blue waves, I quicky forgot any anxiety I felt during the trip.

Needless to say, the week was a bit calmer. I started Spanish classes at La Herradura (The Horseshoe), a Spanish Language school in Montevideo. I have three more weeks of Spanish class before beginning a Masters program in International Relations offered by the Law School of Universidad de la República (The semester in the South Hemisphere runs March - November).

I plan on having plenty of adventures to update you on between now and then (perhaps even a week long excursion to Buenos Aires . . .) so don´t forget to keep checking the website. For more Montevideo photos, click here.

Another tour of Rockingham

Quieren saber mas de donde soy? Mira este video.
You might find this Rockingham tour amusing, even if you don't speak Spanish.

Rockingham in February

¨Come here Teddy, come on Macy.¨ It snowed today for the first time this winter. Odd how summer will begin for me in just over a week. For more snow shots, click here.

Photo by *duane