Our Second Week - Daily Life

The Staff & Students at La Herradura School






We've now successfully completed our second week at La Herradura Spanish language school. I'm finding it easier to understand Spanish - at least the carefully spoken Spanish of our teachers - but I am discovering that speaking the language is a whole lot more difficult. This week I have had ample opportunities to practice my Spanish though. First, since the fridge at the school is not very large and is shared by other students, I have to go shopping almost everyday. Within an 8 block radius of the school I can find just about everything we need. There are lots of little fruit and veggie stands in the neighborhood, and then there is the Disco, an Uruguayan supermarket chain. I'm getting a bit more comfortable with asking basic questions, but I had my first very embarrassing experience when, after they had rung through all of my groceries, I discovered that I didn't have enough pesos. Of course there was a nice long line behind me as I fumbled through the assorted pockets in my purse and coat, to no avail. Ultimately the checker had to call over the supervisor and we had to put back some items. This is an unpleasant experience in the U.S., but when no one speaks your language and everyone is asking you questions in rapid fire Spanish, it is doubly so. Needless to say, I now always check to make sure I have enough pesos before going anywhere.
(Genevieve at the Ecotienda food coop)







I was happy to discover that there is a little health food store in the neighborhood. However, I had to first figure out how to get in. The sign said it was open but the door was locked. There was a sign with an arrow and some words I didn't recognize pointing towards the corner. Maybe there door was over there. No luck. I decided that they must be closed and decided to try the next day. The next day, same thing, I could even see the girl behind the counter. Fortunately at that moment someone came up and rang an outside bell (that's what the arrow was pointing to!) and in we went. Health food in Uruguay is the way health food was in the 1970's in the U.S. - very few convenience items. Everything is either put by the store into small bags with the weight and price, or is kept in bulk in large bins. Some of the items require trying to explain to the salesperson how much is needed. I was able to find rolled oats, unsweetened corn flakes, cornmeal, rice crackers, and some herbs and spices that I had been unable to find at the Disco in this store, so I was happy. Later in the week we discovered about 15 blocks away from our school, the Ecotienda, a natural food coop. This store, in addition to the types of items found in the store close to my house, had fresh homemade yogurts, breads, cheeses, and assorted fruits and veggies (all organic). Again, shopping there required lots of communication. Which type? How many kilos? etc. Very few people here speak any English, so I'm forced to figure out how to explain everything using my limited vocabulary. Language issues aside, however, I have to confess I am really enjoying and appreciating the rhythm of life here. For those of you as old as I am, remember the mom and pop stores of your childhood? - the neighborhood candy store, bakery, dime store, toy store, etc? - well it's still like that here. No Wal-Mart or K-Mart that you have to drive across town to reach, there are mostly just smaller shops here, and almost everything you need for everyday life is within walking distance. In addition, almost anything you want can be delivered to you at almost no extra cost. (I haven't attempted that yet.) People walk everywhere, at all hours. Walking home at 10:00 or 11:00p.m. feels perfectly safe, there are lots of normal looking people still about on the streets. Even though this is a city of 1.2 million people, it really has more of a small town feel to it.

(Houses in Montevideo, An auto garage, Looking across the street from the roof, Laundry drying on our roof)












































Another big difference between home and here is the process of doing laundry. Most people don't have dryers. They are an expensive luxury. Instead, they dry their clothes outside. In the city, that usually means using the roof. At the school there is a washing machine, but no dryer. This past week was quite cold and wet. (Like some of the damp winter days in San Luis Obispo.) However, I really needed to get some laundry done. Finally on Tuesday it was sunny when I woke up. I ran a load of laundry, hung it up on the clothes lines on the roof and started another load. This second load was not dry before the end of the day, so I left it up over night. Big mistake! That night we had a "La Tormenta" (think thunder and lightening with gale force winds.) All night I had difficulty sleeping knowing that my laundry was up on the roof and that by morning it might be half way across the city. Sure enough, in the morning when I checked, most of it had indeed blown down and was drenched and dirty. Fortunately only one towel blew away, and that ended up on the neighbors roof. Julia recovered it for me. By the end of the week, the weather improved and I was able to complete my laundry, but doing laundry here definitely requires a bit more planning and thought.

There is lots more I could say, but I don't want to make my post unbearably long. At this point I think that one or two posts a week are about all I'm up to writing. Perhaps I'll have time for one more tomorrow, otherwise, next week I'll write again. Until then, chau!!

Day 4-12: Getting Settled in and Adjusting to Life in a Foreign Country

After the trials and tribulations of our first 4 days, it was so wonderful to have a welcoming place to stay for a few days. The Campbell family, Aaron and Emily and their five children, have been living in Montevideo for the past 9 months. Aaron spent a couple of years in UY when he was younger and always wanted to return with his family. Andrew and I met them when we were visiting Uruguay in March, and we have kept in touch. Chris and Elli became email pen pals with their children, and when I was trying to figure out the best place to stay for the several days between the time we arrived and the time we could move into our rooms at the Spanish school, they very kindly offered to let us stay with them.

Uruguay has had very cold weather this winter. (Remember, the seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere.) Fortunately, they got a warm spell when we arrived. So after we woke up Friday, we all went exploring and took in some of the sights and sounds of the city.




















































































About the photos: These are assorted photos of the local park and Rambla. The first photo is a typical neighborhood fruit stand, the next three are of the local park, and the rest are from the Rambla. The odd looking castle is sandwiched between two apartment building across from the Rambla.























First we went to a local park nearby (the city has lots of parks) and then we headed to the Rambla. Montevideo in located on the Rio de la Plata which is a huge river that separates Uruguay from Argentina. All along the edge of the city for many, many miles, there is "the Rambla," which is essentially a very long wide paved path where everyone in MVD loves to go. There are lovely white sand beaches, parks, museums, restaurants, etc. It is definitely unique to find something like this on the edge of a city of 2 million people. It sure felt great to finally get some exercise after days of being cooped up in planes and airports.

The next day, on Saturday morning while the children slept in, I went with Emily and Morielle to the local neighborhood feria (not sure on the spelling). These are held at various locations in the city through out the week and are a great place to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables. The feria we went to can best be described as a combination of a farmer's market, crafts fair, and an open air department store all rolled into one. It was huge. Just about any basic item you might need was there from yarn and clothes to pots and pans. Emily bought herself a nice pair of leather and wood clogs, and we found lots of great fresh produce at very reasonable prices. Emily is quite fluent, so initially I let her do all of the talking. Then when she wanted to sit down for a while (I suspect it might have been her attempt to force me into talking), I finished up the shopping I needed to do on my own. This was a tad intimidating as everyone speaks in rapid fire Spanish with an Uruguayo accent. For example, the word Uruguayo is actually pronounced "ooroogwayshow." In this part of South America, the "y" & "ll" are pronounced with a sh or jsh sound. For those of us accustomed to Mexican Spanish, this is a bit of an adjustment. One of the most confusing words for me is "ella," meaning female. Here it is pronounce like the word "Asia."

On Sunday afternoon we were able to move into La Herradura, the Spanish school we are studying at for a month. We piled ourselves and as much luggage as we could fit into two
taxis and headed the several miles to our new homeIt is in a large old house in a residential neighborhood called Parque Rodo. There is a large, beautiful park by that name close by as well. The house has seen better days, but is certainly adequate. We are using 3 of the 5 upstairs bedrooms, have use of the living room and kitchen, and only have to go downstairs to get to our classes. It is really very convenient. Since Chris and Elli are in classes for an hour less than the rest of us each day, they can just go upstairs to play. There is a patio out back with banana trees and several levels of usable roof space with a bench and table. Christopher, in particular, loves to hang out on the roof. At home he was always asking me to let him sit up there. Here, because the roof is flat, it is just part of the available outside space. It also has a great view.

All though the neighborhood is very quite in terms of traffic, you do have an interesting assortment of noises outside. For example, as I type this I can hear the clip-clop of horses hooves going down the street. These are the recyclers in Montevideo; the very poor that support themselves by collecting recyclables from the dumpsters on each block. (The photo above is a cart we saw on our way to the park on our first day.) One of the first nights we were here, around 12:3o a.m., there was some random band with tambourines, drums, and singers that went by under our window. The next night around midnight, someone decided to set off fireworks a couple of houses away. Why, I have no idea. It seemed totally random to me. And then there are the dogs, lots of them! Usually they are quiet, but if one of them starts to bark they all get going for a few minutes. Speaking of dogs, one of our daily annoyances in MVD is dog poop on the sidewalks. It is everywhere. You literally have to watch your step or else. All of the houses come right up to the sidewalk with no front yard, so people living in houses without a backyard or those living in apartments, just send their dogs out front to do their doggy business. To be fair, I have seen many responsible dog owners picking up their dog's droppings, but it is still an issue, especially since we, and most of the other residents of the city, walk everywhere.

Our first week of Spanish classes are finished and everyone seems to be enjoying the experience. Christopher and Elisabeth have their own class for 3 hours a day. Julia, Fiona, and Morielle are together in a class, and Genevieve and I are in the same class. There are several other students in each of our classes, except Chris and Elli's, so it makes for a nice mix of people. The teachers are great! We have four classes each day. Some are geared toward grammar and some are mostly conversation. Everything is in Spanish, although if we're really stuck they will give us some help. The grammar has been very helpful as I am finally beginning to learn past and future tenses, but truthfully, the Spanish conversation is the best part of the experience for me. It is one thing to study Spanish, it is another thing to feel comfortable using it. Here we have a safe place to try out our tortured sentence constructions with out fear of misunderstanding or embarrassment.

In my next post I will include more impressions and photos of Uruguay, but for now I need to get this posted and get to bed. All of us have picked up a cold, so I am in need of a good night sleep. Chau!

(Pronounced "chow") This is the most common way to say goodbye in Uruguay; and yes, for those of you familiar with the Italian spelling of the word, it is spelled "chau" here.)

The Pudewa Family's Misadventures Enroute to Urugauy

Hello my dear family and friends!!!! Our 3 1/2 month adventure in South America has finally begun! After some "misadventures" which you'll read about shortly, we actually made it to Uruguay (praise God!) Regrettably, due to a lack of free time, and some computer and internet issues, it has been challenging for me to get my first blog post finished. Therefore, please bear with me, as my first two posts (which summarize our last 10 days) are rather long. In the first post I will recount our challenges in getting here, and in my second post I will share with you our experiences during our first full week in UY. After these first two posts, I will hopefully be able to post more regularly. Since this is my first attempt at blogging, I'm sure I'll have lots of glitches in my posts, so please bear with me. Hugs and besos (kisses) to all of you, and please keep us in your prayers. We love you and miss you!!!

Day 1-4: Trying to get to Uruguay!

Packing for this trip was an adventure in itself. How do you pack a large family for a 3 1/2 month trip to South America? Add to that Christopher's food allergies and the requests of friends and acquaintances in UY for items not easily found down here, and packing became a bit challenging. My attempts to do so in an organized fashioned were thwarted by the problem of baggage weight limits. As the clock ticked away, I was madly rearranging our luggage to keep each bag under the limit. I finally had to grab some additional duffel bags and stuff items into them and into the children's bags. We finally managed to finish packing, get loaded into our van, and onto the road to LAX by around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday Sept. 4th.

Our plane was scheduled to leave LAX at 2:00 a.m. We picked up a friend (thank you, Julie!) near the airport who drove us the rest of the way, dropping us off at Copa Airlines with our 14 bags!! of check-in luggage and our carry-ons. We were finally on our way - or so we thought.... Security posed our first small challenge. Somehow one of the children (not the one you might suspect) managed to pack an old Swiss Army knife in their bag. The offending item was finally located in their carry-on suitcase, removed, and we were sent on our way. We still arrived at our gate with ample time to spare and were looking forward to being able to sleep on the plane.

Alas, this was not to be our fate. Around 1:15 a.m., our flight was canceled due to mechanical problems and rescheduled for 11:oo a.m. the next morning. Copa airlines shuttled all the passengers to a Holiday Inn near the airport where I had to wait in line for at least 45 minutes before getting 2 rooms for us. By the time we got to sleep it was almost 3:00 a.m.! We were all exhausted! In the morning we caught a shuttle back to the airport at 9:20.



Waiting for the shuttle to take us to the hotel and waiting in the lobby for our room.

Now some real waiting began. We had get new boarding passes, which required a several hour wait in line at the Copa Airlines desk. Since we had missed our connecting flight to UY, we were rerouted through Buenos Aires which would have put our arrival time only about 5 hours behind schedule. However, by the time the plane finally took off from LAX, everyone on our flight had missed their connecting flights in Panama, so when we arrived at the airport we were shuttled in yet another bus to a rather run down hotel in a seedy part of Panama City. More lines, more waiting - the kids finally fell asleep around 11:00 p.m. after eating a sparse dinner provided by the hotel for the hungry airline travelers.

After being stuck in airports, Chris & Elli were thrilled to stick their heads out the bus window in Panama.

All of the other passengers had to catch a 7:00 shuttle, but because our flight didn't leave until 5:50 p.m., they arranged to have our family picked up at 1:oo. We were happy to have some time to relax a bit, so in the morning we slept in, ate breakfast (courtesy of Copa) and went swimming in the pool on the roof. It was a lovely interlude before the next grueling leg of our journey.


















What a pleasant surprise to find a pool & grass at the top of this older hotel in downtown Panama City.

We got ourselves ready to go before 1:00 and waited, and waited, and waited. No taxis or shuttle appeared. The front desk tried to contact the airlines multiple times but the lines were always busy. I had no phone, no internet service, and the phone card Copa gave me didn't work, so I couldn't get a hold of Andrew or the people in UY who were supposed be picking us up. In addition, the airline failed to inform the hotel that we needed food other than our breakfast. We'd been strongly warned not to leave the hotel due the location, and other than the breakfast bar which closed at 10:00, the hotel had no food available. By 4:15 we were starting to get really concerned. Finally, at around 4:30 we got in contact with the airlines who had forgotten us. They told us to take two taxis to the airport and they would pay the drivers. By the time everything was worked out, and we had our new boarding passes it was almost time to board the plane. No time for a good meal, but we were grateful to finally be on a plane for Montevideo.







This flight left without delay and we arrived on time (a day late) at 4:00 a.m. in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. It was now Friday, September 7th. I wasn't too concerned about clearing customs, but when I went to get my bags, I discovered that one of our bags had been randomly chosen for inspection. Unfortunately, this was the bag with lots of nuts in it. Nuts are very expensive in UY, and a friend of mine in Montevideo had requested that I bring her a good supply. Since my Spanish is poor, the inspector had to call over some one who spoke English. I explained that these were not for resale but for myself and a friend. "Sorry, absolutely no!" was her response. She walked away, leaving me a bit in shock. I turned back toward the inspector who discreetly closed up my bag, smiled, and waved me on - with all of my nuts still in the bag! Again I was shocked, but very grateful and relieved. With tired children and numerous bags in tow, were we waved past the rest of the regular customs gauntlet and into the airport. My friend (who I brought the nuts for) had arranged for some people she knew to pick us up in two cars and a van at the airport and bring us to her home. What a blessing!! It was so nice to arrive exausted in a foreign country and not have to worry about transportation. When we got to her home we were extremely grateful to find comfortable beds waiting for all of us. We all fell promptly asleep and slept until around noon. We had finally made it!!!!