Estoy aprendiendo español...

It's our second day in Montevideo but it feels like we've already been here for weeks!

The plane ride here was enough of an adventure for me...even though I've never had a problem with motion sickness before, I was sick the entire 12-or-so hour plane ride and didn't get much sleep. I felt bad because Lawson sat next to me and he probably slept even worse than I did. Needless to say, we were muy cansado when we finally landed in Montevideo! I loved Uruguay from the moment we stepped off the plane. It was beautiful and warm and there were palm trees everywhere! It was so strange because suddenly everything was in Spanish--I knew it would be, but I didn't fully understand what that would mean until I was in a huge place surrounded by people and I could understand almost nothing. It was overwhelming to go through the line to get my passport stamped and understand nothing that the immigration officer said; all I could really say to her was gracias. Despite all that, it was pretty cool to hear Beyonce playing over the speakers--in Spanish! After surviving our first bit of culture shock, we loaded our luggage onto the bus that would take us home to Casa ACU. On the way we stopped at a beach to stretch our legs and get our first real taste of Uruguay. It was beautiful...I think I'll get used to living here pretty quickly! When we finally got to Casa ACU we met our wonderful cooks, Raquel and Mariella, who had made empanadas for us. They looked so wonderful but I couldn't eat any because I still wasn't feeling so great--hopefully soon I'll get to feeling better so I can actually experience some of their cooking! I did try some Uruguayan strawberries, though. They are so tiny compared to the ones in the U.S.--about the size of your thumb nail--but they are so incredibly sweet and wonderful! All of the fruit here is so fresh and amazing. I wish I could bring some back with me for you to try! Last night we all took cabs to a restaurant called Mercado de la Abundancia for dinner. They even opened early for us...at eight PM! Most Uruguayans don't start thinking about dinner until around 10:00 or so! The cab ride to the restaurant was also quite an experience. Traffic here does not stop for pedestrians and if you walk too close to the edge of the sidewalk you might just get hit by the side mirror of a bus--seriously. Also, there are no lanes or speed limits marked on the roads here in the city, so all the cars just drive as fast as they can and cut each other off all over the place. Even though we definitely thought we were going to die, Rosalinda (our house mom) said that in all the time she's been here, she's never seen a wreck and only very few cars with dents. That's pretty amazing to me. Today we all went to Cieudad Vieja, the Old City.

The Palacio Salvo in Plaza independencia, which was once the tallest building in South America. Isn't Montevideo beautiful?!

We saw a monument built for Jose Artigas, one of Uruguay's biggest heroes, and the guards standing next to his mausoleum were so incredibly still that I wasn't sure at first if they were even awake.

All over the streets and sidewalks of Cieudad Vieja are street vendors with all kinds of amazing things for sale. It's really like a giant, city-wide garage sale or craft fair. I want to go back sometime when I've exchanged some pesos to look at all of the jewelry and things. There was a McDonald's nearby that we went to and I ordered un agua mineral--just a bottle of water--and the sweet cashier lady asked me something in Spanish, so of course all I could say was sí. It turns out she was asking me whether I wanted my water con gas or sin gas--carbonated or uncarbonated--so today I tried carbonated water for the first time. It's not my favorite but maybe I'll end up getting used to it if I don't learn Spanish pretty quickly! Tonight I think we're going to a pizzeria for dinner and tomorrow we have some free time to go to the beach or shopping if we want--I can't wait to go lay out in the middle of January! I hope you all are having a great time too...I love and miss you very much!