A Mute Spanish-Speaking Sea Lion

See that face? That's how I feel whenever I try to recap (even in my own head) everything that has happened in the past the few weeks. I feel just like a mute Spanish-speaking sea lion. (Okay, he wasn't actually mute. Our ocean friend here did make sounds, but none of them were intelligible words. Besides, even if he could speak, we're in Uruguay, so it would be in Spanish! And for me, mute and Spanish-speaking are pretty much synonymous at this point. But I'm working on it.)

Here is our ocean friend's ~~good~~ better side.

Despite feeling like I am at a permanent loss for words, I will try to briefly recap the past twelve days. Friday Christa and I had our final Spanish lesson. It was very hard to say goodbye to our teacher. In the an hour and a half we spent together every day for ten days, an unusual friendship formed between the three of us--her speaking Spanish and us stumbling through our own meager vocabulary (with Señor Google helping us along the way).
On Friday afternoon we moved into our next house--across the city in a more suburban area called Carracso. (Actually, we are only here for a few more days and then Christa and I will be staying with separate Uruguayan host families for a week.)
On Saturday our new hosts took us on a day trip up the coast to Punta del Este. It was a wonderfully relaxing day full of lovely sights, good company (including our ocean friend featured above), and yummy food.

This is a viewing spot just short distance from Punta del Este. I forget its Spanish name, but in English it is called Whale Point.

This is the coolest bridge ever. It is basically a roller-coaster for cars! (Let's just say we drove over it more than once.)

On Sunday we went to the only C&MA church in Montevideo (for the second time). The small congregation was celebrating their thirty-fourth anniversary. After church we met up with one of our Uruguayan friends to take pictures. She and Christa had connected at an English Conversation class because they both have studied and enjoy photography. So we got spend the afternoon walking around Montevideo with her--talking and shooting.

Here is the iconic "Montevideo" sign. When we arrived in the city it was white, but now it is celeste (sky blue)--like almost everything else--in honor of the World Cup.

This was my favorite picture (that I took) from our photography outing.

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the World Cup. Uruguay has played two nerve-wracking games in the past couple weeks. They were nerve-wracking because Uruguay had to win both of them to move on to the next round. And they did!!!

It is really impossible to convey the anticipation, tension and excitement that Uruguayan fútbol produces in this country. It is something that everyone--from the youngest child to the oldest grandmother--is aware of. School gets cancelled when Uruguay plays. The roads and buses are empty when Uruguay plays. The country is depressed when Uruguay loses. But when Uruguay wins... now that is a happy spectacle! People go out on their balconies and cheer, people congregate on the streets celebrating, cars and buses drive by honking their horns (for hours). It is like nothing I have ever seen before.

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I was going to write a little bit more about my thoughts from my time in Uruguay so far, but this is already a long post and it is getting late so I will write another time. I do, however, want to mention one more thing...