that which has been consuming me...

Well I have officially survived my first week at language school! Really that sounds a lot more hefty than it actually is, as much as i'd love to say I could write this entire post in Spanish if I wanted to... but oh well. It's funny, it feels like i've been here for ages yet I can't believe we will be here for 3 months still. It feels like we are completely settled into our little habitat with newly adapted routines, yet I haven't even been at this school a week. Ok... so I have been describing this place all along as a school, but really I lied. Here is the neat thing, let me describe a little better: It is very much like all the other houses here in Montevideo; slightly antique on the inside, with the whole front of the building perfectly perpendicular to the falling-apart sidewalk and quasi-one way streets. Upon entering the building... with your old-fashioned, dungeon-like key, you immediately encounter the delicious odor of molding wood, pee, stinky socks, and fish. But fear not! Just move on;) Yes that is indeed what we did, so we then saw the living room which led to the kitchen (where we were soon to spend many an hour searching for something edible to eat besides crackers but to no avail). So then we moved upstairs to the bedrooms. Morielle and I took room 2, which uncannily resembled the entryway in it's scent but was redeemed by the color of it's walls: fionablue:) Determined to buy an air-freshener the very next day, we set out to unpack our junk and feel as at home as possible (we had both agreed to not live out of suitcases for the next month.) That was the moving in process, but not the end of the day. We had absolutely no food for dinner, with the exception of pancake mix and almonds (yeah that helps, huh) so my mom and I went on my first shopping trip here. That was pretty fun, because first of all we couldn't read any of the ingredients. You know what that means... yummy, unidentified, junk food can easily be slipped under my mommy's nose (not really.) Then there was checking out... apparently most people come to just get their bread or their meat or their beer for one dinner; not to buy a week of groceries for 7 greedy people like we were. That could be clearly seen on the checker's face. And lastly, we had yet to walk 8 blocks back to our casa with 2 5-liter H2O bottles and, you guessed it... our plenitude of groceries. But we did make it. If not with our blood-circulation, than at least with our limbs:) That night, Morielle and I watched the Minority Report. It was fantastic and disturbing... a great start to a week of language intensive. But attempting to sleep was a little less great. For you see, our mattresses suffered from the lumps. Now if you are able to handle that combined with the Uruguayan men shouting in hyper-speed Spanish and dogs barking outside at 3 in the morning, you should sleep like a queen. But traveling really makes you more able to accept discomfort i've noticed. So all that to say, I really do love it here, and it feels great to be back in a routine after being so out of it. So let me tell you a little bit about school. Everyday we have Spanish class from 9:00-1:00. All the teachers speak Spanish, so it's unlike anything i've ever experienced. But actually, after a few days, it became second nature to me. You have to sort of feel out what they're saying based on a combination of random words you know, their movements, and a handy-dandy electronic dictionary;) It takes twice the brain power, which is why I think we are learning fast. Morielle, Julia, and I are in a class with two men from England, and they are a blast. To be quite honest, I think we are having way too much fun in class... for the past few days we have been playing Taboo, and the game "Who Am I?" (in Spanish of course.) It's uber fun, except we are having problems with seeing the difference between estas and eres (both of which mean "you are"...) [UUUGGGH! she says.]
So there are the highlights of my Spanish class in summary. The rest of the time is spent enjoying thunderstorms and taking cold showers. Just kidding. Only once. But it was cold.
It seriously felt like someone was boring a hole into my head. And the thunderstorm...well that was pretty cool. Had I been on the roof (which would have also most likely killed me) I could have seen the tops of the city silhouetted by purple, pink and dark gray shatters. An unparalleled fusion of sea and sunset.
This weekend we will most likely do something adventurous, which is wonderful since I am dying to get out and do something. To run! Let's hope it's not raining again.... although dancing in the rain is fabulous too, so long as all the vehicles in Montevideo have been removed;)
Well I am hoping as always that you guys are well. Have a wonderful weekend!

(here are just a few more pictures...)

~rainy streets with rainy trees~


~me and my adorable roomate moving in~


~La Rambla Famosa~


~now you know me up close;)~


~what was I saying about these sunsets?!~
(if you want to encounter beauty, click
on this ^ and wait a few secs.)


~yo en la terraza~