Time's been flying by for a few reasons, the first of which is that I'm becoming more and more comfortable in Salto. Liz, Holly, and I moved from the hostel we were staying at since we needed a place with more space. Contrary to what I had hoped, living in a hostel didn't provide many opportunities to meet new people, since the common areas were rarely used. Instead, I was left with a small room with see-thru curtains. Now, I am living a posh lifestyle in the penthouse of a nice hotel located right in the center of downtown. The room is, by local standards, amazing--we have a kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom, and two bedrooms. My room has a queen-size bed and a window the size of my wall. Since the temperature is usually nice, I leave the windows open at night and, in the morning, wake up to the sound of people bustling in the streets below. Everything is nearby, from a great restaurant/coffee shop across the street to a theater next door.
The other reason time has been passing so quickly is that I'm quickly making friends with the locals. The social scene here revolves around a drink that everyone who has visited knows intimately, called mate (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate). The Argentines love it, and they say that the only people who drink more mate than they do are the Uruguayans. And it's true. People here walk around with a gourd filled with yerba in one hand, and an enormous thermos under their other arm (or, as the Argentines say, the Uruguayans "andan con el termo bajo el brazo"). Signs posted outside lecture halls read "Inside the auditorium it is prohibited to smoke, or drink mate." During my first week here, I tried to break into the mate drinking culture by purchasing a gourd with John Lennon's face carved onto it, surrounded by the word "Uruguay." Not a popular move with the locals, who tell me I need to get a "real" mate ASAP. In the weeks that followed, I've learned how to cure the gourd, and how to prepare the mate. Lately, I've been drinking it several times a day, not because I like the taste, but because it's just what you do when you spend time with the locals. It's been wonderful growing closer to the people who live here--one friend (an English teacher at a high school here) offered to give me private Spanish classes; another friend invited me to visit her hometown, Mercedes, in southern Uruguay next weekend. It seems like every day I'm invited to this or that park, or to a concert, or to sit on the bank of the river and watch the sunset. Life is tranquilo.
For this update, I finally have some pictures of my students at the public school. I took these during "recreo" one day last week:
Trying to take a photo during a thumb war...
These are a few of my first graders. The girl in the middle had some boiling water spilled on her hand at home, and would quietly sob to herself several times every day. It made me feel terrible, but I think she's doing much better now.
This picture really captures the mood of the school--the kids are all happy and having a good time, while the teachers are constantly trying to get them under control. The teacher on the right had no idea that I was taking a photo and that the kids were responding to me:
I'm really having a great time at both the university and the public school. Just today I gave a lesson to a class of fifth graders on my own, which went extremely well. I've already been invited to teach another lesson tomorrow morning.
I'm wishing you all the best, including a wonderful Mother's Day! More updates coming soon!
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