Well I've been here long enough now that it's probably about time to blog.
Before coming down here I was following the weather, and it was typically in the high 50s-low 60s during the day, and down into the high 40s at night. However, the day I landed it was so foggy I couldn't even see the city as I rode to my hotel, and the following week was the worst they had all winter (invierno, in Spanish). Temperatures were in the low 40s and down in the 30s at night, which doesn't seem so bad coming from Minnesota until you realize three things:
1. Montevideo, located on the coast, is humid. Humidity makes cold worse.
2. Storms off the ocean bring lots of strong, cold wind. Strong, cold wind makes 40ยบ feel much colder.
3. There are hardly heating systems anywhere. Most restaurants have them, as did my hotel, but since I spend my time in my unheated apartment, the bus, walking around outside, and in other unheated buildings, I never have a chance to warm up...and permanent cold feels a LOT colder than you would think.
In summary, it's cold here! Luckily, mate (pronounced ma-tay) is readily passed around at most gatherings (look it up on wikipedia, or wait for me to do a post on it later) & I brought Under Armour & enough clothes for me to layer & stay mostly warm.
One of those very cold days it also rained very heavily, as in an all day long deluge, and it made me very glad I had a waterproof Columbia jacket & waterproof hiking boots as I had a number of errands forcing me to spend ~3 hours of that day outside.
As I mentioned, I'm living in an apartment which I came to after 3 days in a nice hotel downtown (Centro barrio/neighborhood). My host counselor (or tutor being the preferred word here) arranged for me to meet one of the other scholars who has been down here most of the year, and I ended up going back to her apartment for dinner & meeting two Uruguayans, Diego & Quique (pronounced kee-kay). Diego mentioned there was a room for rent in the house he lives, and the price was about what I paid in two nights at the hotel. I went and looked at it the next day, and moved in a day later.
Let's take a tour:
The house as seen from outside the gate. Looks like something
from a horror movie, no? You should see it at night!
House entrance. Seriously something out of a movie.
Looking into my room from the doorway. A bit
messy as I was doing laundry. All furniture came included.
My bed, two tables, chairs, "puf" (beanbag), &
clothes hanging from the ceiling. Efficient, no?
My big window/storage corner. That's how all
the cold air gets into my room. It's great for
people watching though.
The communal kitchen. Three fridges, a sink, a
small gas burner, and the table. Behind me is a
wall of small lockers we each use as a small
pantry. The site of many entertaining conversations
& late night dinners (usually between 9-11pm, normal for here)
My laundry flapping in the wind after some good
old-fashioned washing in the bathroom sink.
I've rented a month here & have the option to stay longer, but will probably start looking for something central to where I'll be spending most of my time once I know exactly where that is. I start classes next week and probably won't have the schedule for a few days, and am working on setting up my volunteer work. It looks like all of my locations are going to be fairly spread out in the city, so I'll be riding the bus a lot. For now I really enjoy living at this house as the other 14 people who live here are a mix of students, working people, and a couple older ladies, so I get to learn a lot about Uruguayan culture & day to day life, and also get to practice listening to the crazy accent, grammar, & vocabulary they have here! A lot of days I feel like I don't even know Spanish because it's so different here.
Also, I've got a local cell phone so email me for the number if you want to Skype me with random text messages (or calls!) to surprise me! I also yesterday went to Claro (one of the local cell companies) and bought a USB internet modem, basically meaning I can get internet anywhere in the country I care to bring my laptop....which is how I am able to sit on my bed right now surrounded by my camera, Uruguayan leather wallet, mate, and thermos writing this blog.
That's all for now, but keep checking back, or click "Follow" on the right hand side to be emailed when I update. Thanks for reading!
As a side note I've decided to disable comments for my blog, preferring to stay in contact with people more personally by email. If you want to send me a message or respond to one of my posts please email me at bradenmog [at] gmail [dot] com & I'll do my best to respond soon. Thanks for reading!
