Poco a Poco

Marilyn, February 23, 2015

We are approaching the halfway point of our time in Uruguay, but we've only been in our final home for a week.  Last Monday, we moved from one side of our duplex to the other, and are starting to feel settled into what will be our home for the next four months.  We are spending a lot of time at the beach, and enjoying the beautiful views from our house.  Here are a couple of my favorite recent photos.

My two beautiful boys out in the surf

Sunset view from our roof

We're not feeling much like tourists any longer, and although a lot of the confusion and frustrations of our first weeks in Uruguay seem like distant memories, the work of acculturating is far from done.  Most of the time it seems like we take three steps forward and two back.  Poco a poco, though, little by little, we're learning how things are done, getting more comfortable in our surroundings, and feeling more at home.  

Today we took a bit of inventory and each listed three things we feel like we've accomplished since arriving, and three things that will be challenges for us in the time we have remaining.  Here are the accomplishments that we came up with:

Javy's accomplishments

1.  learning to ride a bike safely in all the traffic

2.  knowing how to ride the busses

3.  learning some Spanish

Teo's accomplishments

1.  being able to have fun with other kids even though we don't know the language

2.  exploring and learning about our beach

3.  learning some Spanish

Gene's accomplishments

1.  learning to navigate the bus system and having the driver understand one in eight times when I pronounce "Atlántida"

2.  surviving without Dr. Pepper

3.  contributing to designing a better amplifier in the lab

Marilyn's accomplishments

1.  making myself understood in most situations without relying on any English

2.  learning to circumvent the rules at the supermarket about checking bags at the door and using countless plastic bags to put groceries in

3.  meeting a lovely young woman who is eager to exchange Spanish conversation for English conversation with me 

And our challenges:

Javy's challenges

1.  learning more Spanish

2.  getting used to all the sunscreen we have to use because of the hole in the ozone layer above us

3.  learning to do some boating

Teo's challenges

1.  actually making friends

2.  getting better at riding bikes

3.  learning more Spanish

Gene's challenges

1.  designing a still better amplifier

2.  learning to program an Arduino microcontroller

3.  understanding mate drinking

Marilyn's challenges

1.  making some Uruguayan friends

2.  comprehension, comprehension, comprehension

3.  finding activities for the boys where they can make friends and practice Spanish

This weekend marks the end of summer holidays, and most of the vacationers will clear out from our town and our beach.  In a way, I'll miss all the activity, but in a way, I'm eager to see what Atlántida will be like when it's just "us locals" here.  I am feeling a little anxious about what the next months hold for the boys and me, and I'm trying to figure out how we can integrate ourselves into the community and its fall activities.  This process has been discouraging and frustrating at times, especially as Gene and I look at school possibilities for the boys and try to decide whether they should attend school here, the best option for really immersing them in Spanish.  We don't have much more time to decide, since schools start a week from today.

Thursday and Friday were particularly hard days in this regard, with each of them being a two-steps-backward day.  The boys had been attending a summer camp for several days.  Although it started out to be a good experience, they found it increasingly challenging to fit in and communicate with the other kids.  By Thursday, Javy lasted only about an hour at the camp before he convinced the director to call me to come get him.  And Friday I could not get him to go at all, even with the promise of dinner at McDonalds afterward and one ride at the amusement park for each positive thing he could tell me about camp.  My plan that they would make some friends and gradually learn to communicate was clearly not working out; in fact, they felt isolated and bored and hurt and ridiculed.  What that all meant for the possibility of school being a good experience for them, I didn't know, but I was feeling mighty discouraged.  

Fortunately, though, two friends have been able to point me toward some potential activities that could provide the boys with the socialization they need, including music classes and sailing lessons.  Perhaps the best course of action will be to continue to home school for part of each day, and have a full slate of afternoon activities with other kids.  We'll figure it out, I suppose. 

Since then, we've had more forward-moving days.  Saturday, Teo and Javy got to play with an English-speaking boy they met at the camp, and I had a lovely time getting to know his mom as we sat together on a windy beach watching them romp and wrestle.  I also really enjoyed biking into the next town for the weekly market that takes place there, and felt good about my ability to get myself there and buy what I needed, then coast downhill almost all the way home on the road that runs along the beach.  Sunday we had three other couples over for dinner, and it was a wonderful evening.  Our guests were from Germany, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Uruguay, and both the company and conversation were great.  Just preparing and serving the dinner involved a number of minor victories, including figuring out how to operate the oven, concluding that what the man at the market had assured me was coriander was really basil, making our few plates and bowls suffice for a three-course meal for ten, and getting a Georgia peach crisp to turn out right in Uruguay.

Today, more successes.  Using virtually no English, and with only one major error, and that more of a problem of not paying attention rather than a problem of language, we accomplished the following:  got keys made, got the boys' hair cut, stopped for Cokes, exchanged money, and arranged to rent a car for tomorrow.  We got a reasonable amount of school work done at home, and then spent a couple hours at the beach, where the boys had a great time with a boy they met there (not a local, unfortunately) who spoke no English at all.  They built an intricate sand mausoleum for a dead jellyfish they found, charged through the waves, and rolled down sand dunes together.  

Tomorrow, the four of us will drive to another city farther up the coast where we'll renew our visas, then spend some time at what is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in South America.  Poco a poco, the adventure continues.  Thanks for following along.