Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 9, 2009
Who Said ACU Doesn't Dance?
So I'm a little behind in my videos. Sorry about that. But here is one of our dance lessons. We learned Candombe, which is a major part of Carnaval. Basically it is a dance that African slaves brought to Uruguay and Brazil in the 1500s. Then today we learned Tango... which is harder than it looks. I hope you enjoy it.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Me Encanta Punta... Y Carnaval
So its been a while since I wrote anything. sorry about that. I am usually busy... or I just forget. So whats new... um Spanish class is still a pain in the butt. Its definitely challenging. Last weekend a group of us took our first trip by ourselves to Punta Del Este. It was legit. ACU should have a house there. There is a store called Rachel... the clothes in it were actually kind of lame, but thats not the point. The only down side to our weekend was the weather. It was not the best. We definitely got rained on... alot. and it was too windy and cold to really enjoy the beach for very long. But no worries, we are going back tomorrow and it will be sunny.
Last week Carnaval began. Carnaval is basically Mardi Gras minus the beads. From what I understand, its like a month long celebration up until lent. It began with the parade, with Candombe(drums) and lots of dancers. The women are scantily clad and have big feathers on their heads... its definitely an experience. Then, on Monday we got to go to the celebration of Yemanja. Yemanja is a goddess like figure in the religion of Candomble. On February 2, thousands of people go to her statue on the to offer gifts and light candles. They also wade out into the water and send out little boats filled with offerings. This ritual was something I have never seen before but I really enjoyed watching it. even though it was weird.
Last week Carnaval began. Carnaval is basically Mardi Gras minus the beads. From what I understand, its like a month long celebration up until lent. It began with the parade, with Candombe(drums) and lots of dancers. The women are scantily clad and have big feathers on their heads... its definitely an experience. Then, on Monday we got to go to the celebration of Yemanja. Yemanja is a goddess like figure in the religion of Candomble. On February 2, thousands of people go to her statue on the to offer gifts and light candles. They also wade out into the water and send out little boats filled with offerings. This ritual was something I have never seen before but I really enjoyed watching it. even though it was weird.
Monday, January 26, 2009
A glimpse of Montevideo!
This is just a few things we saw and did the past week. I hope you enjoy it!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My new and Improved Blog
Thanks to Jessalyn making fun of it, I have decided to improve my blog. It now has a new layout, title and I have added pictures.
I hope you like my video. It is the first of many to come. We went to a cemetery- which was like my favorite thing so far. I know that is creepy but it was soo cool! And it was really pretty. I was kind of mad when they made us leave because I wanted to keep looking at everything.
Also, this awesome cemetery is right on the coast so we got to see a cool view of the ocean.
Then our tour bus took us to the "mountain" that Montevideo is named after. But its not really a mountain. its not even that big of a hill... but there was a military fort on top of it so that was cool. and these precious Uruguayan boys were there.
Later that night we got to go to a "football" game with the youth group. i love them! its kind of funny because they don't speak english and I dont speak spanish, but somehow we had a lot of fun. I sat next to Mathias, who is a precious lamb. The game was Nacional(Uruguay) vs. some Brazil team. Brazil totally creamed Uruguay- it was funny. And the fans were crazy!
So I actually spent most of this weekend doing my homework. On friday, Steph and I went to the beach and brought our books to read while we laid out. Funny story- I kind of missed part of my leg when I was putting sunscreen on so I got an awkward burn on part of my leg. But sunday was fun. After church I went back to the market and I bought some more movies... including Defiance- which I haven't watched yet but it is in English so im excited.
We had an "asado" with out Uruguayan youth group friends on the roof of casa ACU. It was really cool.
I hope you like my video. It is the first of many to come. We went to a cemetery- which was like my favorite thing so far. I know that is creepy but it was soo cool! And it was really pretty. I was kind of mad when they made us leave because I wanted to keep looking at everything.
Also, this awesome cemetery is right on the coast so we got to see a cool view of the ocean.
Then our tour bus took us to the "mountain" that Montevideo is named after. But its not really a mountain. its not even that big of a hill... but there was a military fort on top of it so that was cool. and these precious Uruguayan boys were there.
Later that night we got to go to a "football" game with the youth group. i love them! its kind of funny because they don't speak english and I dont speak spanish, but somehow we had a lot of fun. I sat next to Mathias, who is a precious lamb. The game was Nacional(Uruguay) vs. some Brazil team. Brazil totally creamed Uruguay- it was funny. And the fans were crazy!
So I actually spent most of this weekend doing my homework. On friday, Steph and I went to the beach and brought our books to read while we laid out. Funny story- I kind of missed part of my leg when I was putting sunscreen on so I got an awkward burn on part of my leg. But sunday was fun. After church I went back to the market and I bought some more movies... including Defiance- which I haven't watched yet but it is in English so im excited.
We had an "asado" with out Uruguayan youth group friends on the roof of casa ACU. It was really cool.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
La playa y la escuela
so its been a few days since I have written. Well we went to the beach on saturday! it was really nice... but it was hot. I'm not going to lie. its very warm down here. Since I burned on Friday I put spf 70 on 3 times which is weird because i never usually where sunscreen. so basically I gained no color from the whole day that I spent in the sun. I was pretty bummed. but ave no fear though... next time I will get a beautiful golden tan. I also saw my first jellyfish. I didn't know what it was and then I felt stupid.
I also have now attended all of my classes that I will have this semester. Its going to be hard. Probably the hardest semester I have ever had. Thank you espanol. and world literature. and latin american studies. and bible. but most of all thank you espanol. I have to audit advanced spanish conversation. that in itself is not bad. it is actually beneficial because I dont speak spanish that well and it will help me around town. The hard part is intermediate spanish 1 and 2 and the Catholic University downtown. Yes, I am an official international student. My class will be entirely in spanish. I had 2 hours of it today and my brain hurts.
Even though my classes are hard I think I will really enjoy them. Except I have alot of reading to do. We also got our calender of events for the semester today and I am pumped. Tomorrow we are going to a soccer game between a Uruguayan club team and a Brazilian club team. Its going to be awesome!
I also have now attended all of my classes that I will have this semester. Its going to be hard. Probably the hardest semester I have ever had. Thank you espanol. and world literature. and latin american studies. and bible. but most of all thank you espanol. I have to audit advanced spanish conversation. that in itself is not bad. it is actually beneficial because I dont speak spanish that well and it will help me around town. The hard part is intermediate spanish 1 and 2 and the Catholic University downtown. Yes, I am an official international student. My class will be entirely in spanish. I had 2 hours of it today and my brain hurts.
Even though my classes are hard I think I will really enjoy them. Except I have alot of reading to do. We also got our calender of events for the semester today and I am pumped. Tomorrow we are going to a soccer game between a Uruguayan club team and a Brazilian club team. Its going to be awesome!
Friday, January 16, 2009
this is unusual.
so this will be a continuous note of things that i was surprised by/ didnt expect. i will add to it all semester
1) when i walked off the plane, the airport was playing "If i were a boy" in espanol. way to go beyonce. i did not know you sang in spanish. i already knew you were amazing but you elevated your own diva status.
2) i got sun burned. already.
3) we went to a local market today. I bought a boot-legged copy of Twilight.... turns out it is in spanish. serves me right.
1) when i walked off the plane, the airport was playing "If i were a boy" in espanol. way to go beyonce. i did not know you sang in spanish. i already knew you were amazing but you elevated your own diva status.
2) i got sun burned. already.
3) we went to a local market today. I bought a boot-legged copy of Twilight.... turns out it is in spanish. serves me right.
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