Settling In

Marilyn, December 11, 2014

Little by little, we are becoming more comfortable with life here.  Crossing the street does not evoke the same fear that it did the first couple of days.  We have learned to keep our eyes ahead of us on the sidewalk to avoid stepping in the ever-present dog poop.  I've mastered carrying a load of wet laundry up the very high and very steep stairs to the clothesline on the roof.  After spending an entire blister-producing afternoon last week walking from bank to bank, ATM to ATM, following all sorts of inaccurate advice, I have discovered, with assistance from a very helpful housemate, the secret of getting cash with my debit card.  And after getting stuck twice in the private little ATM booth, I now know how to get out.  We've been to a couple of restaurants and I have some idea of what I'm ordering when the menu says "milenesa" or "pascualina."  I even recognized the Uruguayan word for pineapple on the menu last night.  (It's ananá, not piña, and strawberries are frutillas, not fresas.) We have learned that catsup is not automatically served with French fries.  I can navigate the busses fairly well at this point, though I have to follow our route closely on my map so that I know where we need to get off.  And although I am still not certain which way home is once we do get off the bus, I have learned to trust Teo and Javy's sense of direction.

Our Spanish classes continue to go well.  Besides taking them on outings to the markets and the park, Teo and Javy's teachers have had them creating signs to post in various rooms in the school with the Spanish words for objects in each room.  The teachers assure me that the boys are understanding quite a bit, although they don't talk much, in Spanish, that is.  I have no doubt that they talk plenty in English.  The word traviesos has been applied more than once to them since we've been here.  My astute teachers have learned that a good way to get me enthusiastic about conversation is to ask me about immigration issues, or to offer to teach me something about Uruguayan history or geography.  Yesterday, we watched a video about the Rio de la Plata.  Although I still need a bit of convincing that this body of water is actually a river (the widest in the world, they claim -- which it certainly is if one doesn't choose to call it a bay), I am more accepting of the idea than I was initially.  Another of my teachers has me slogging though a short history of the extermination of the indigenous people of Uruguay, the Charrúa.  There is much in this article, besides the sometimes cumbersome grammar, to stop and discuss, including the similarities between this history and that of the United States.

On Tuesday, the boys and I visited a very interesting museum to learn about a more recent event that is central to Uruguayan identity -- the 1972 crash in the Andes Mountains of a plane carrying, among others, the Uruguayan rugby team.  The survival and rescue story are powerfully told in the museum's exhibits, and we got to chat briefly with the curator, who is clearly passionate about his work to keep the story alive.  The trip to the museum was also our first venture into Ciudad Vieja, a bustling area with pedestrian walkways, street artists, lots of tourists, and the impressive Plaza Independencia.

Yesterday, we had plans to visit the zoo with our new friends Edy, Steve, and their son Daniel.  Although it's supposed to be free on Wednesdays, we got there to find that it was closed.  So we went instead to Edy's apartment where the three boys had a great time creating a Lego saga involving zombies while Edy and I chatted about all sorts of things.  After an enjoyable dinner together at a nearby restaurant, Teo and Javy and I caught a bus home.  At one stop, the bus picked up several passengers, including one in rather odd clothing and with a thin mustache penciled on his face.  After the bus got going, he started making a loud announcement.  I deciphered that he was talking about some theatrical production, and thought I heard "Jamaica," but I was wary.  More than likely, it was just another strange word masquerading as a familiar one in a sneaky attempt to throw me off course.  But after his brief soliloquy, the guy began belting out, in a deep and powerful voice, "DAY - O, me say day-o, daylight come and me wanna go ho - ome!"  As I was congratulating myself on correctly identifying the gist of his announcement, five other passengers, not in costume, but clearly in cahoots, joined in the song, and the rest of us were treated to a delightful serenade.  Dancing as best they could in the aisle of the crowded bus, the singers completed the song, passed a hat, reminded everyone of the time and place of their production, and hopped off the bus at the next stop, where presumably they waited for another audience to come by and pick them up.

As I mentioned last week, each Thursday, our language school hosts an event with a group of kids with disabilities who live in a home down the street.  Today's activity was a holiday party.  A dozen or so kids and young adults, and one older adult, joined ten or twelve adults from the school, plus Teo, Javy, and two other kids, to bake cookies, play a game, assemble and decorate a Christmas tree, hang garlands and set up a nativity scene, sing carols, and receive presents that Papa Noel surreptitiously left at the door.  It was really a lovely time, and very touching, especially after I learned that these children are not only disabled but also have been abandoned by their families.  The home that cares for them is supported only by donations, so they enjoy very little beyond basic necessities.  Their joy over receiving the small gifts and being treated to a fun afternoon was heartwarming.  And to look around the room and see students and teachers from Germany, Brazil, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the U.S., all with varying levels of Spanish proficiency, and all with hearts so wide open to these children (and to mine) made me think I was glimpsing what King described as the beloved community, what others might call the Kingdom of God, what in any case is the kind of world I want to live in.  It was a beautiful, beautiful reminder that in the midst of all the problems that weigh so heavily on us, caring hearts have the power to bridge significant differences, and that is where the work of peace, and the promise of Christmas, starts.

Our Art Class

Teo, December 10, 2014

Yesterday Javy and I went to a class that our mom signed us up for.  It was an art class.  There were three girls and three boys.  Javy and I were the other two boys and there was one more guy.  The teacher's name was Marcela and her name reminded us of one of our friends in Atlanta.  She was nice and friendly and she kissed Javy and me.  It was very embarrassing.

I made a little boat out of some trash and I also made a little clay airplane and a tree.  I painted a dragon and Javy painted a duck.

Most of the class is in Spanish, but the teacher wanted to know some English words.  She asked what clay was in English.  We didn't really need to talk much Spanish, so we just kind of did our thing while the other people did their own thing.

I'm looking forward to the next class.

The Adventure of Atlántida

Javy, December 7, 2014

I am going to talk about our journey to Atlántida. We went with two of the guys that live with us. We all walked to the bus stop. It took a little bit of a walk, but all was well. Then we hopped on the bus and rode for about an hour to get to Atlántida. We hopped off and we decided to eat lunch. After lunch, we all walked to the beach and got down there and ran around and then we took off our shirts and hopped in. The water was really cold. And then we decided not to play in the water and made a sand castle. And then we played this fun game that I'll have to show you when I get back.

Then we left because it was raining. We went to a restaurant and we sat down and Teo and I ordered dessert. We had ice cream with a brownie underneath. We did not like it because there was honey that was very, very, very sweet on the bottom of our brownie. Then we walked to the bus stop. We waited and had to stand for a long time in the bus because there was a lot of people. And then our mom got a seat and I sat in her lap and then Teo and I traded off. A couple minutes later, I got a seat. And then we got to the bus stop and finally hopped off and walked a couple blocks and got to our house.

Exploring Here and There

Marilyn, December 4, 2014

Try as I might, I just can't figure out how to post photos here using my iPad.  When Gene arrives later in the month with his laptop, I'll be able to get some posted.  In the meantime, I'll try to be as descriptive as I can, knowing that at best, each word will be worth about 1/1000th of a picture.  

Its hard to believe that tomorrow we'll complete our first week of Spanish classes.  After the first day, the boys' classes were changed to include mostly games and activities, including walks to the market and to the park.  They seem to like their teachers a lot.  The main problem has been getting up and out the door by 9 a.m., which has caused more anguish than it should have the last couple mornings.  Next week, hopefully, we can get the time of our classes changed to relieve that stress.

My classes continue to go well.  I am reviewing past tense verbs.  It's discouraging to me that in spite of all the cumulative years I've spent studying Spanish, I'm still just at an advanced beginner's level.  I am also realizing that although I'm in class 3 hours a day (actually more like 2.5, when late starts and breaks are figured in), having to be with the boys every other minute of the day leaves little time for homework or for informal practice.  As I fully expected, my main challenge is not in speaking but in understanding what is being said to me.  I'm getting used to the Rioplatense (my new favorite word, referring to the area around the Rio de la Plata) accent, which is very distinct (y's and double l's are pronounced like a z/sh combination), and I can understand a good deal of what my patient and slow-talking teachers say to me, but on the street I am absolutely clueless about what people are saying.

Yesterday, we ventured out to try to buy a bus card.  We went to exactly where I had been shown on the map that we should go, and we looked for a purple building as I had been instructed.  Failing to find the right place, I began to ask various people about it.  I asked a total of six.  I did not understand any of their answers to any meaningful degree, but I did understand enough to determine the following:  two (one a very distinguished, official-looking gentleman, and one a guy toward the other end of the social spectrum) told me in no uncertain terms that I could not buy a card, either because they didn't exist, or because I am not a permanent resident.  Two told me that the building was in the next block.  And the other two looked at each other, conferred, and decided that probably there was such a place, and maybe it was somewhere close by.  These last two, though, were in the shop where I was finally able to procure a SIM card for my phone, so I had that victory as a consolation.  They very patiently tried to explain all the phone stuff to me, and I did end up with a phone that can make calls and can text locally.  I want it to also connect to the internet, which I thought I was being told it would, but I'm taking what I can get at this point.  Chance are, if they had explained the phone stuff to me in English, it wouldn´t have made a whole lot more sense to me.

Later in the afternoon, we braved the bus for the first time.  A family I had met on Facebook had invited us over, and had given me very clear instructions on where and how to catch the appropriate bus.  Unfortunately, when I got to the place to catch it, I discovered it was a one-way street going the wrong way.  (Good for me!  I realized it was going the wrong way!)  With a couple of questions to a very helpful woman, we solved that problem and caught the right bus a block away.  This bus, like the majority here, had a driver in the front (naturally), and a little ways back, another person taking the money, and plenty of people using the cards we had tried so hard to buy, and which clearly do exist.  We made our way through the bus aisle to the money collector, paid, and asked to be told when we reached a certain intersection.  It was clear to everyone around us that we had very little idea of what we were doing.  Teo was in the aisle a bit in front of me, and an older woman who was seated next to the money collector motioned for him to come over to her.  When he did, she scooped him up and plopped him in her lap.  He was very polite and tolerant about it all, but did look kind of deer-in-the-headlights for the whole ride.  The woman told me that we needed to watch where she got off and then we should get off at the next stop.  She also told me that I spoke very good Spanish, which endeared her to me all the more.

Our evening with our new friends was wonderful.  The boys had a brief romp in the park with the couple´s 13 year old son, then came back to the apartment to ask for some money for ice cream, which I was happy to supply.  After enjoying that, some sandwiches, and the requisite amount of computer gaming, we all headed to the beach, about eight blocks away.  I had told the boys they could wade, but not get completely wet.  I shouldn´t have wasted my breath.  They were soaked within minutes, and having a glorious time.  As we walked back to catch our bus home, Javy said to me, "I think maybe you´re right.  I think maybe I won´t want to go back to Atlanta when it´s time."

This morning, in place of our third hour of classes, we accompanied one teacher and several other students (all adult women from the U.S.) on an outing to the tallest building in Uruguay, the Antel tower.  (Antel is the name of the phone company.)  We took an exterior elevator to the observation deck and spent some time looking out over the port and the rest of the city.  Here´s a photo of the tower that I pulled off the internet.

Across the port, we could see a small rise with a white structure on top.  Here is where I really need to attach a photo so that it's obvious what a puny little hill this is.  However, so the story goes, it was impressive enough to cause a Portuguese sailor in Magellan´s expedition to exclaim "I saw (video) a mountain (monte)," giving the future city its name.  (There are also other possible explanations for the name.)  Our teacher explained, in Spanish, that the white structure on top is a fort, or forteleza.  Always the helpful one, Javy dramatically acted out the meaning of the word in case there was anyone who might possibly have misunderstood.

Later in the afternoon, we again met with other students from our school and with teenagers from a nearby program for kids with disabilities.  Every Thursday, students and teachers from the school facilitate some sort of activity for these teens.  Today, it was a trip to the beach.  When the teens arrived at the school, their exuberance as they introduced themselves to each of us, and gave us the obligatory air-kisses on the cheek, left my boys a little shell-shocked.  After a walk of ten or so blocks, we arrived at the beach, where Javy quickly became involved in a game of frisbee.  Teo, who so often needs the security of having some part of his body touching mine, immediately detached himself from me, and abandoning all fear, bee-lined way, way out into the surf by himself.  Luckily, the water was only waist-deep even 100 yards or so out, but it did unnerve me a bit.  I can't say much interaction happened between my boys and the other kids, or that a whole lot of Spanish was practiced, but all in all, it was a positive experience, I think.

Scattered around the beach were semi-translucent little spheres about the size of ping-pong balls.  Our best guess was that they were turtle eggs, but we were told that they are actually snail eggs.  As close as I can tell, they must be the same as those described here.

Walking back from the beach through the same park that Teo and Javy and I visited earlier in the week, we saw anhingas swimming in the lake.  It was fun to watch them dive down under the water and then pop back up.  Later, they all lined up on a rope over the lake and spread their wings out to dry.

I can already see how our experiences are helping the boys to grow in different ways.  The school's director has made a point to tell me how well they're doing in their classes, and everyone seems to enjoy having them around.  I am finding that they are learning their way around our neighborhood much faster than I am, and that I'm depending on them to be able to get us back home when we're out and about.   It's hard work for me to be managing all their needs and wants here, but I feel so fortunate that I can give them the gift of this experience.  And when I am disoriented and don't know which way home is, I'm doubly grateful that they are here with me.

El Parque

Teo, December 3, 2014

Two days ago, we walked over to a park about eight blocks from our house.  There were some birds in the park kind of like parrots that are just in the wild.  They are an invasive species.  They were green and they were pecking at the ground.  They were with the pigeons a lot.  They were cool.

Also in the park there was a statue of Guillermo (William) Tell.*  Our mom was very excited.  I learned that he was a guy who shot an apple off his son's head with a bow and arrow.

There were some pretty cool boats that you could rent and you could go sailing down the river.  There was one boat that had a swan painted on the front.  We thought our friend Santiago would like them.

*Note from Marilyn:  Of course, after seeing the William Tell statue, I made the boys come home and learn the story about him and listen to the William Tell Overture.  There was also a statue of Confucius in the park, but we'll save that learning opportunity for another day.

Javy's First Impressions

Javy, December 2, 2014

Our Spanish classes are three hours a day.  After that, we go to a little shop and buy what we need to survive.  The shop is about as big as our bedroom at home.  Outside the shop, there are fruits and vegetables in boxes on shelves.  It different compared to a shop in Atlanta.  Inside, it is kind of cramped.  The refrigerators with drinks and sodas in them are not as fancy as in shops at home.

Our Spanish classes are going very well.  Today we reviewed colors.  It's almost like school.  We cut out little square boxes and colored different things on them and had a matching game.  Teo won the first match.  In our second class today, we went with our other teacher Maribel and walked to the shop.  We had a pen and piece of paper and we wrote down what kinds of fruits and veggies were there.  We wrote down platanos, uvas, manzanas, and tomates.   Sadly, we did not get to sample.

Our house is very nice.  It has a lot of bedrooms.  There are about ten people in this house.  Some of them are students, some of them are not.  The house has seven rooms.  Our bedroom is very nice.  It sometimes can get hot, but other than that, everything's fine.  I feel like a caveman when I sleep because the bed is like a rock.

The house doesn't have a very big yard, not to sustain two boys.  It has some dangerous-looking steps up to the roof.  The roof is kind of cool.  The clothesline is up there.  It is a very nice view.  You can see into other people's yards.  Most houses have just flat roofs, but some of them have steps leading up to a higher peak so you can see more.

First Day

Marilyn, December 1, 2014



We have arrived!  After a ten-hour overnight flight to Buenos Aires, a three-hour layover (photos will be added when I figure out how to reformat them), and short flight across Río de la Plata to Montevideo (see map below), we were met by a driver sent by our language school, who delivered us to our host family's house.  The driver went to the door which was answered by our host, Perla, who gave him a confused look.  That concerned me briefly, but luckily, it didn't mean she wasn't expecting us.  Instead, she had thought that the bad weather would have prevented any flights from landing.  It was raining a little and was quite windy, but nothing I would have suspected would cancel flights.  Anyway, I was glad we were in a place where we were expected and then made to feel very, very welcomed.

This household where we've landed in is really quite wonderful.  Perla is a widow and lives here with her almost-15 year old daughter, Cecelia, who has dreams of going to the U.S. to work as an actress.  Their cat, Lucas, seemed to really like the mouse toy we brought him, and patiently lets us pet and talk silly cat-talk to him.  (We love that he shares Luke's name, and now we, like Luke, have a cat to become attached to.)  In addition to Lucas, Cecelia and Perla share their house with a number of boarders.  I think I have counted four current ones besides ourselves, but I'm not confident that I've met them all.  If I've got it all straight, two are young French men, one of whom made and shared an unbelievably good apple tart last night; one is a young man from Toronto; and one is a female MBA student from Peru, who chose a university in Montevideo to escape the crowds and hubbub of Lima.  The conversation (and apple tart) around the table last night made me feel that I could be very happy here for much longer than the three weeks we plan to stay.

Our house!

Our street!

Perla also has two grown sons who live nearby.  Both are engaged to women from the U.S. who   previously boarded with Perla.  She took us to visit one of her sons and he immediately set Teo and Javy up on PlayStation in a U.S. vs Uruguay fútbol match.  If we are able to spend much time with him, I think some serious bonding could happen.

In the afternoon, Perla took us with her to pick Cecelia up, then we all went on a driving tour of Montevideo, which seemed especially generous, given the high cost of gas here.  It also made me think that the country needs to invest in a lot more stop signs, and that driving here for the short time we'll be renting a car will be a high-stress experience.  Toward the end of the tour, we stopped at Perla's poling place so she could vote, as required by law, in the presidential runoff.  (If you don't know about Uruguay's current president, who is prevented by the Constitution from serving a second consecutive term, you really should read about him here.)  Teo and Javy, who have accompanied me to vote in the U.S., got to see a different, non-computerized way of holding elections, and we talked about the advantages and disadvantages of a country requiring its citizens to vote.  Failure to vote here results in a fine, so later in the evening, we saw shops closing early so that employees could make it to the polls in time to cast their ballots.

After voting, Perla and Cecelia took us to a large shopping mall that in the 1940s was converted from a prison.  I couldn't help thinking what kind of a mall Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, where I visit often, might make, once we are successful in shutting it down as a prison for immigrants.  Teo and Javy, in spite of their exhaustion and growing boredom with sightseeing, found things of interest in the mall, including fútbol jerseys that Javy has decided would make a great Christmas present.  There were many elaborate Christmas decorations, including snow-dusted trees in spite of the fact that Christmas is a summer holiday here.  An enormous bear was provided by a children's charity for photo opportunities. (We of course took the opportunity, and our photo will be added when I figure out how).  Perla also treated us to dinner at Burger King in the mall's food court, which improved the boys' attitude considerably.

In spite of insisting that they were not tired, sleep came to Teo and Javy pretty easily; in fact, Javy was out before we were very far into our bedtime reading.  I was worried that our open window would allow in a lot of noise from the street in along with the cool breeze, and was pleased to find out that after the election-day fireworks were over, the night was very, very quiet.

Our first day of class was supposed to start this morning at 9 a.m.  Since the boys were still sleeping soundly at 8:45, I asked Perla to text the school and ask if we could start at 10 instead, and that was arranged.  They enjoyed a breakfast of sweet and savory rolls that Perla had bought that morning at the corner bakery, and we headed out the door for our half-block walk to the school.  We were very heartily welcomed by the owner of the school, a Dutch woman named Margo, and our teachers.  Usually we will have three hours of class each day, but because of our rescheduling, today was just two, which was plenty.  I have private classes (today one hour with a Uruguayan woman named Maribel and one hour with a Spanish man named Ignacio, both of whom were great), and the boys had one hour with Maribel and one with another teacher.  They weren't nearly as excited about the opportunity to sit and speak Spanish for two hours as I was, and later Margo explained that from here on out, with my permission, some of their class time would be spent out and about, shopping at the market, going to the park, visiting different offices, etc.  Of course permission was granted, along with an explanation about home schooling and the boys' lack of experience with classroom work.  Margo is also going to look into surfing lessons for Teo, and I am going to work on convincing Javy that he will not be eaten by a shark should he want to learn to surf as well.  We were also invited to go with other students from the school on Thursday afternoon to volunteer with some kids with disabilities.  So I'm feeling pretty hopeful that these three weeks of study are going to turn out to be a great experience for all of us.

We walked from the school to exchange U.S dollars (U$S) for Uruguayan pesos ($).  U$S 80 = $1800.  (Home schooling friends:  I am picturing many of you suggesting to your kids right this moment that they calculate the exchange rate.)  We then spent 100 of our new pesos at the corner market on four apples, one kiwi, something that looked like a plum, about 10 small apricots, and a loaf of French bread, which we took home to Perla's.  We got out the first of the eight jars of Kroger peanut butter that I packed and made a lunch for ourselves.  The afternoon we'll spend relaxing and maybe doing a bit more exploring of the neighborhood.

Challenges so far involve mostly keeping the boys' homesickness at bay, and getting a SIM card for my phone.  I feel fortunate that we have easy, though not perfectly continuous, internet access at Perla's house, and with that, we can Facetime with Gene and friends at home.  Technology has come a long way since our sabbatical in Scotland 15 years ago.