This is not a funny entry

As I write this, I can hear dogs howling, laughter and loud conversations in Spanish outside my 3rd floor apartment window. I love it! The other day I woke up to a small girl yelling “Abuela, abuela, abuela!!!! Apparently she couldn’t locate her grandmother. How nice it is to hear Spanish all the time. I can’t explain my love for this language, but I’m okay with that. Oh how I wish to attain fluency in the next 5 months!


Food story: Up until Monday’s lunch I loved everything dear Grandma cooked for Greg and I. Monday was when things took a brief, but disheartening turn for the worst because Grandma cooked empanadas (perfect, delicious, dream-like) and a spinach pie (death). I never had eaten enough spinach to know that I really don’t like it. So when I saw the pie I felt no fear at all, especially because I didn’t know it was spinach. Haha It was Greg who kindly shared with me that it was espinaca. Never in my life have I ever struggled so hard to finish what was on my plate. Please let me remind you that what we eat for lunch is what we also eat for dinner. This spinach pie had a very thin crust on the bottom and the inside of the pie was a thick inch of spinach with cooked eggs floating on top. It was then covered with a thin crust. I am certain that I ate more spinach for lunch and dinner than I have or will eat in my entire life. Then freakin Greg, who also didn’t like it, told Grandma he did. So we will most likely have it again in the near future. Thanks Greg.


It is hard to imagine that I’ve been in Uruguay for 2 weeks. This week has passed quickly because I am in my pre-semester language class most of the day. On Wednesday the remaining international students arrived and we are 77 strong. The large majority is from Spain and other European countries. The students from the US and Latin America are the minority. I’ve been talking to two girls from Colombia. How reassuring it was that they also struggled with the Uruguayan dialect and Spanish is their native language.


On Wednesday it rained heavily all day long. How thankful I am that I spent money on a good raincoat. It made walking through the city and standing at the bus stop enjoyable. After class, even though the sky was dark with clouds, I decided to make the 45-minute walk back to the apartment. I love rain, thunder, wind, all things storm related. I love walking through the city (rain or not). I feel like I belong here. I’m not an outsider, although others may stamp me as one. Living in a city gives me a strong feeling of being part of humanity, interacting with people, riding the buses, walking the streets, being friends with the doorman. I strive to be a part of humanity/community; it is innate.


Once again, I plan on leaving the city for a weekend of backpacking/hostel hopping. Two other girls (Molly and Brittany) and I are going to spend Friday and Saturday in Punta del Diablo and then catch a bus to Cabo Polonio on Sunday. These are two very small fishing villages along the eastern coast of Uruguay, close to Brazil. Pictures and stories to follow.


No longer striving to earn grace, Erica