A touch of culture in Montevideo

Good Morning and welcome my dear friends and true followers … Hahahaha Well this was another week of almost pure awesomeness, only dimmed by the fact that I was bound to bed for about three days with a quite heavy flu so that I am even now still suffering from the aftereffects of the sickness. However, nothing can stop me as far as having a good time is concerned.

Zyro, Franca, me and Sean

At first I cannot help, but have to give utterance to the pure feelings of joy that inhabit my chest, as my beloved soccer club FC Bayern München won the flipping Champions League, therefore:   OHHHHH WIE IST DAS SCHÖN, OH WIE IST DAS SCHÖN, SO WAS HAT MAN LANGE NICHT GESEHN, SO SCHÖN, SO SCHÖN!!!!!!!!! Hahahahahaha da ist das Ding!!!! Well so that should do it for starters, man what a match, what a journey and what a victory … that´s how history is made!!!

fiesta mexicana en la facultad

Another reason to rejoice, who would have thought that, are my first grades that I received here in Montevideo, and I must say, the studying, learning, revising and practicing of Spanish, were quite worth the pain and the sweat, as I can be more than content with my grades, even in Organizational Behavior (taught in Spanish), which really surprised me … anyway, I won´t complain!!!

ward temple trip

Hahahaha, so I just continued to write and although it´s been some 4 weeks that I wrote the first part of this blog, and it´s not so much up to date any more, I am not going to change anything as I figured it might be interesting to read anyway. But here we are, it´s already July and my time here in Uruguay is (un)fortunately drawing closer to the end, unfortunately of course because I´m gonna miss this beautiful crazy little country with all it´s interesting fascinating and sometimes also funny customs and my friends and the great people here, but above all of course my beautiful little angel. Fortunately on the other hand, because I´m also looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, to eating some German food and of course because of the awesome summer plans awaiting me … Which is I guess how every farewell must seem or feel like, a two-minded thought pending between the sadness of the goodbye and the cheerful welcoming shouts of a new beginning …

Well so let me continue telling my story of the last couple weeks and how Montevideo was treating me!

I chose this title because Montevideo is also called the Capital Iberoamericana de la Cultura and these last couple weeks I have had the chance and pleasure to discover this side a little more: For the first time in my life I went to a Ballet and I must say I really enjoyed it and was deeply impressed by the physical skills of the dancers as well as by the creativity of the performance itself, something different, maybe not for every day, but definitely once in a while worth a watch.

Then, with our Uruguayan culture class, we were able to explore the judicial center of power in Uruguay called el Palacio Legislativo, a really magnificent building with great architecture, majestic statues and columns and beautiful paintings. It really reminded me of the great architectural masterpieces we know from Europe. Built with over (I think it was a hundred) different colors of marble coming directly from the mines in Uruguay. We were even able to go into the chambers of the senate and the parliament. As to the quality of the laws being passed therein I would like to allow myself a quite sarcastic comment: Recently they banned ketchup, mayonnaise, and salt from the restaurant tables, because too many people suffer from hyper tension in Uruguay, but they legalized Marihuana and de-penalized abortion … I´m sorry, but I don´t get their point^^

We have been to a really small close-up theatre, were only 40 spectators were able to sit in front of and behind the stage and watched a piece about two men, their friendship, their verbal fighting, their love life and all that in a very funny way, in a pub. It was really Uruguayan, really funny and really awesome, even though I didn´t understand everything, great experience and I´m glad I went!

Meanwhile, without having nothing better to say, and herewith explaining one of the reasons why I have been a little lazy with blogging these last days, I survived all my partial and final exams and papers and I approved all the Spanish courses with quite good grades (well okay, one paper is still missing … but whatever :P ) So yeah that also means, that University or classes at la Universidad Católica del Uruguay are over now and I can enjoy my well-earned holiday of a very stressful and awesome vacation-semester abroad ^^

Just some short news: we had some great ward activities and I made some "real" bavarian OBAZDN and everybody loved it! We also had a temple trip together and of course there is an exchange student from the States (Sean) staying at the house of Francas family therfore "we" show him around^^ and of course sometimes the Uruguayan winter is really really really nice =)

 

And last but not least and actually one of the coolest cultural events that I have been to, was with Franca´s mother Monica and her best friend Laura, who invited us to see “les tambores” in the very traditional street “Isla de Flores” where since the early 19^th century the black slaves gathered to communicate and to dance and to have fun and to express themselves playing traditional drums (men) and women dancing to the thriving and pounding rhythms of the drums. Due to the winter season there where only some 30-40 drummers, 10 dancers and some 100? Spectators that were able to listen to and watch this fascinating spectacle. Drumming and pushing each other to wilder and ever faster tunes, the drummers were sweating and the rhythm of the drums almost seemed to develop a life on its own as to unite the individual drums into one single magnificent drum that seemed to be the direct cause of the movements of the dancers. . .  To put it all in a nutshell, I really liked it and it was awesome! Afterwards we went to eat very traditional Faina and Pizza in a cozy little famous place nearby … a great evening, with great people and some good charlas (chats).

There we go again and so far that´s all I experienced as far as cultural Uruguayan highlights go … I hope you liked it and we will see each other again … But of course I can´t let you go without a nice little uplifting thought! One aspect of why it is of tremendous importance to read and study the Holy Scriptures (Bible and Book of Mormon) is not in the first place that we read the words or understand the stories, but that we allow the 3^rd member of the Godhead, the Holy Ghost, to be present and to teach us what we have to know. We thereby abide in the light and knowledge of his gospel and are able to understand more truth (there is only one truth, which is the knowledge of how things really are, were, and are going to be!). Receiving more truth causes us to receive more light, enlightening our intelligence and thereby helping us to understand more truth … The spiral is going upward and brings us peace and happiness in our family and in our life. In reverse, if we do not study the scriptures and do not feel the spirit, we will not receive more light and we will not understand more truth, but even worse, through bad decisions, light will be taken (or will actually leave us) from us, which causes us to understand less truth, which causes us to lose (or reject more light) … the spiral is going downward toward more bad decisions, their consequences and unhappiness. Do we want to be happy?  It is our choice and I know that it works, because with all my imperfection and all my weaknesses I try to live His gospel.

Las Cataratas del Iguazú

According to the legend of the Guaraní, an indigenous people from the rain forests of the Iguazu area, a young Indian warrior named Caroba was in love with Naipur unfortunately so was the God of the forests. And in his attempt to escape the divine wrath down-stream the river in a canoe, the God shattered the river bed into pieces so that many waterfalls tore down the two lovers. Naipur remains henceforth at the feet of the falls as a rock and Caroba survived and was turned into a tree nearby, always having to watch his love gone by ... That is the origin of the spectacular wonder of nature!

But at first we had to get there ... So Franca (aka the best and most beautiful girlfriend in the world!!!) and I started our journey with nothing more than a backpack/bag each and some good faith the we might actually make it despite crazy bus drivers and rather interesting streets, we headed out into the great adventure on wednesday afternoon with our first stop in Asuncion, Paraguay. After crossing Uruguay and Argentina we reached our destination Asuncion after a 22h bus ride (but these buses are a little bit more comfortable than common ones and they serve food and drinks!)


First thing to do: get in contact with our friend in Paraguay for directions, changing money and finding the right bus stop. We really liked the Paraguayan flair, which is a lot more like one would imagine South-America to be ... Relatively poor, really warm and tropical, lots of green and surprisingly red earth (reminded me of Madagascar!) we soon found out that finding the right bus wasn't the hardest part of the journey, but to find the place where we would have to get off, because there are no buss tops, and also actually getting off the bus, because they are even fuller than buses in Montevideo (we had pass the luggage through the window!!!!) But finally we made it to our friends house where we were invited to share a meal (Paraguayan hospitality requires you to eat at least 3 plates and they made 3 kg of meat for 3 persons^^) I had my first cold mate, we were able to relax and they even showed us an Indian village of the Maka tribe, which was really interesting and different. As final event in Paraguay we went to visit the temple in Asuncion and were able to do proxy baptisms there. It was really awesome and such nice people!

From there we took the night bus to Foz de Iguassu, Brazil, which took only 6 hours and from there to the neighboring Puerto de Iguazu, Argentina, where our nice little promising hostel "Iguazu Falls" was located. I really got to appreciate the European Union as to traveling and border control because here you have to pass borders every single time, out of one country and into the next, but at least it's a nice collection of stamps in your passport (total stamps 14!!!!)

Well so we finally got to visit the falls!!! At first the Argentinian side! by the way, the first Europeans discovered the falls in 1542 under the lead of Alvaro Núñez de Vaca, only six years after the foundation of the city Asuncion. After the mighty Parana River mouths into the Iguazu, this almost infinite amount of water encounters a basalt platform, that abruptly ends and thousands of cubic meters of water per second are gushing down up to 80 m . The various waterfalls combined occupy more than 2 km in width.

Obviously the crazy Americans =)

Enough boring details, so we entered the park took a train and consecutive walk over 9 river arms to the Garganta del diablo (devil's throat/ Teufelsschlund) which which is the culminating point of a U-shaped waterfall system, but let the pictures speak for themselves ... Pretty impressive :)
We were then able to do another hike around the waterfall area with breathtaking views, sunshine and accompanied by monkeys, exotic birds and ring-tailed coatis, which took us down to the lower river level and a boat platform where we crossed over to La Isla de Martín. The island itself is really small but allowed us to get closer to the 3 main waterfalls of Iguazu and the walk around fancied our eyes with new angles, more beautiful landscapes, vultures, rainbows, … the list is endless! We concluded the day with a festive dinner buffet comprising all sorts of food that a gourmand´s heart could desire.

The next day started off with heavy rains and thunderstorms and we were almost about to abandon our plans of visiting the Brazilian side of the falls, if there hadn´t been 2 crazy Americans (there´s always a crazy American!!!) we had met at the hostel, that convinced us to do it anyway. Armed with whole-body rain-ponchos and all important things wrapped up rainproof, we headed out into what should turn out to become a funny splash around. We really had a lot of fun altogether, although or maybe because it was raining and rather a little bit foggy, but it was a totally different experience as to the day before, with a completely different national park on the Brazilian side that doesn´t bring you that close to the falls themselves but offer majestic panoramic views along the Iguazu River up to the main falls.

The next day (Sunday) we were already packing our things and got ready to undertake the trip back home, but first we went to church in the local Latter-day Saints (Mormon) ward, which is always a great pleasure to sing, pray and worship together, to be edified and strengthened for the week, but above all to renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament. Our last stop before the departure was the border triangle of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil, being divided only by the respective rivers responsible for the falls. From there it was only a nice and comfy 18h bus ride to Buenos Aires, where we basically needed the entire day to get to the temple there, but it was worth the pain (in total more than 5 h city traffic and walking^^). And then tired, exhausted and really ready to fall asleep, but happy and content we finally boarded the ferry to get back to our beloved Montevideo . . .

At the end there are only two things left to say: first that God´s creations and the beauty thereof are precious and gorgeous beyond measure and that we need to make an effort to show our gratitude toward our maker e.g. by preserving it (start today and don´t throw your trash anywhere else but into a trash can!) and secondly that I thank my girlfriend for this great time together and I love her with all my heart.

Sign of life from Uruguay!

Hi my dear friends!!! Yes, the rumors tend to be quite accurate, I have not been kidnapped, hit by a bus or annoyed to death by planchas, ergo I am still alive. In other words, I´m sorry that I was kind of lazy these last couple weeks concerning my blog, posting and letting you know about my life, and I could try to invent some pretty good excuses, but I have just learned in my organizational behavior class, that this is called “la teoría de la autopercepción”, and so I won´t. Nevertheless I herewith solemnly promise improvement =) But enough of this introductory gibberish . . .

Atardecer a la Playa Ramirez

Altough I might seem to sound old in doing so, I cannot help but realize that time really flies and that I have been here in Uruguay now for more than 2 months already and the clock is in nowise slowing down. So yeah what happened during these last couple weeks, let me think, the last happenings where the Servicio Comunitario class and the General Conference … Wow has it already been so long? Anyway, I will start from there and tell my story.

 

Clase de Servicio Comunitario

 

Let´s start with the Servicio Comunitario class, that turns out not only to be a great success but also a lot of fun. These kids are really awesome and they might even have more than we do. We visit them once a week and share a class of one hour together, in which we teach them in a playful manner some English and help them to have some fun learning it. As they are around 8 years old we need to invent a lot of fun things to do, such as learn and sing songs, drawings, games, in order to keep them interested. Highlights so far were songs about traffic, the human body, and as you can see in the picture about a zoo.  Tomorrow we will stay a little longer and have lunch with them!!! Oh yeah the last time when we were waiting for our class to start on the school yard, I was talking to a little crowd of kids and then they wanted me to sing the German National Anthem … Hahaha!!! And so I did, but only in exchange for theirs afterwards and one of the kids insisted on giving me his precious bracelet. Just awesome & I love these guys =)

Roof top view in downtown Montevideo

 

So as life and also uni goes on, we had some midterm exams and the topic for our Spanish Essay was the building you can see in the picture with the museum of “El Gaucho” (Spanish version of a cowboy) which was really interesting, with its historic and cultural background. Additionally we had the exam in Uruguayan Culture, which also went really well and was after all pretty interesting, but maybe a little dry. And then just yesterday I had the pleasure to write the exam in Organizational Behavior, but despite my little doubts it went rather well. Yeah, I guess I finally understand Spanish (well you know what I mean^^) and can have conversations in Spanish, that do not end after the usual 1 minute of clichés exchange.

Us ...

Franca and I are still (Cómo no^^) doing really well and we love each other every day a little bit more and have a lot of fun together. And according to the tradition we also put a lock with our initials at the lock fountain in the center of the city, and it is said, that if two lovebirds do so, they shall return to Montevideo and still love each other . . .

La fuente de los candados

 

And of course I really appreciate not only the Uruguayan Culture in theory but also put into practice. Inasmuch as due to the many Asados (typical Uruguayan barbecues), to Bizcochos with dulce de leche and due to my generally rather large appetite, I am “forced” to do some running, but all those who know me, know that I also really love doing that, as you can see on the sunset picture which has been taking on one of my runs. I somehow always forget to take pictures of the Asados … dunno why? Maybe it´s because my brain suddenly stops working as soon as I see that delicious food and my thinking processes are being slowed down and somehow very focused until this unsatisfied need receives alleviation.

Well anyway … recently I was able to observe a demonstration of lots of farmers that come from the Interior (not Montevideo) and that was quite spectacular, as they were riding down the main street on their horses and armed with patriotic flags and banners, shouting “la tierra no se vende, la tierre se defende” (the earth cannot be sold, but needs to be defended). They are protesting against a huge Mining Project, from which the overall economy might maybe benefit, however this should not be achieved at any cost, as the government expropriates the lands of the farmers for very little remuneration.

Demonstration in Avenida 18 de Julio

 

So life is still awesome over here in Montevideo, although we start to notice that the summer is over and that it´s getting colder, but before I leave you and wish you a great day, I would like to share a little message that our Savior taught: After he delivers his great and famous sermon on the mount to the Jews and also to the Nephites, he invites all of us to do two things: to remember his words and do them, with the promise that if we do so, he will exalt us at the last day. He likens the wise man, who built his house upon the rock unto someone who hears his words and then does them, or puts them into practice, and when the floods and winds come to tear him down, he will not fall, because he is founded upon the rock. What are these things that we should put into practice? To love, to forgive, to be honest, to be kind, not to judge, to share and give, to pray and simply to follow his example . . . I really know that the application of these principles bring happiness to our life, because I have seen it not only in my life but also in the lives of many others. Just give it a try!

 

 

The other Uruguay & the Conference

After a week of exhausting travels, the new week started with full speed and there was hardly any time to recover, as daily university and being a good boyfriend life retook their habitual place here in Montevideo. During the time in Argentina I must admit that I really missed this place, although it has been only some 6 weeks,since I came here, but I have been received with open arms and I really like it and it feels like my new home.

Marconi - A "red zone" district of Montevideo

This week I would like to tell you a little bit more about the other Montevideo, that most of the extranjeros never get to know, the Montevideo, that does not appear on postcards, but the one that is either neglected, rejected or abandoned and that mainly appears in the crime, poverty and violence statistics of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. I had the chance to go there and see it because of my new class, that just started this week: servicio comunitario or Community Service.

The school/institution we are working with

Prior to the commencement of this class, we have already been interviewed and asked regarding our previous service experiences, preferences, strengths and what we would be able to contribute, in order to divide us up into different groups and to assign specific projects to us. After the first introductory meeting with our professor, she took us on a bus ride to an area of Montevideo called Marconi, in order to meet our partner association Obra Banneux, which is a benevolent association that is depending on private donation and funding,to help children in poverty and violence prone regions to get a decent education and an actual chance in society.

Ths students doing their dishes after lunch

 

We were introduced to the local headmaster, a very nice Spanish lady, and were told about mission and expectations and we got to meet the adorable children. In my group of 5 I am with 4 girls from England, France and the States and we are going to work with children of 7 and 8 years of age (reminds me of my primary assignment) and we are going to teach them English in a playfull and easy manner! I am so excited and that´s gonna be great fun!!! But I will tell you a little bit more about them next week, after we had the first actual lesson with them =)

Housing in Marconi

Meanwhile I must say that this barrio (ghetto) reminds me quite heavily of the poorer areas on Mauritius and the richer areas of Madagascar, where I served my mission, and everytime I am confronted with such poverty it makes me realize how blessed I am, but on the other hand also the associated responsibility to use my blessings to help. It looks very rural, very dirty, children and dogs are playing in the streets or in front of corrugated iron shacks, whichs roofs are prevented from being lifted up by the wind by bags of dirt, and horses in the front yards. Houses are run-down and the people living there (with the exception of the chidren) did not really make a happy impression. All too often we don't even realize what we have and how blessed we are and how many of our fellow brothers and sisters are lacking so much, we should feel this responsibility to help more and actually act upon it, one person is not gonna change the world in one day, but it is a first step and it is worth it!


While we are already talking about helping and serving others, I also want to tell you about another great event that occurred this week, namely the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ. As we believe that God still loves us and speaks to his children, he has called a prophet in order to restore the gospel and the accompanying authority (e.g. to baptize or to receive revelation)in our days to the earth, after both have been lost after the death of the Savior's apostles and the parallel apostasy. Therefore we still have a living prophet on the earth and the same organization that existed during the Savior's ministry, having 12 apostles, and they receive the will of a loving father on our behalf. That's what general conference is about, the mouthpieces of our loving heavenly father helping us to receive the inspiration and uplifting we need in order to live a better more fulfilled life. And I wanted to share the message of our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson:

General Conference with my Sweetheart

He invited us to enjoy a fulfilled, joyful and happy life through the simple application of 4 principles in our lives (and if all 4 are too much for you, then just start with one, but you will also only enjoy 1/4 of the blessings^^) The first principle he taught was study and search the words of the living Christ (scriptures) and he invited us to do so with dilligence! The second principle, and I must say I haven´t heard that like this before he mentioned, was to plan our lives with purpose, adding to the knowledge about how to life our lives gained through the scriptures a sense of direction, planning and purpose. The third principle and a logic consequence, if we love one another, we will want to share what we have come to know to be useful and true in our life, with the ones we love, as they might also benefit, therefore teach with testimony. And the fourth principle helping us to have a more happy and fulfilled life is to serve with love.

http://www.lds.org/?lang=eng

I would like to invite all of you to try this in your life and see how and if it works, as Jesus already taught, that you shall know a prophet by his fruits . . . I can tell you that these kind of counsels that I applied in my life worked and they made me what I am today, and if you want to listen to some of the talks or know more feel free to check the link above:

A package from Germany!!!!

The last event of this week also was a pure expression of love, as my most awesome mother (ofc in collaboration with my beloved family) sent me a true German package with Leckereien und Sweets from Germany, that should bring me through the cold and rainy winter here in Montevideo!!!
So be safe all of you, thanks for reading and caring and I wish you all a great week, may the force be with you and see you in a week with a new adventure from the Wayfarer . . .

The aforementioned cold and rainy winter in Montevideo :P

Argentina - Nahuel Huapi National Park

Buenos Aires - Waterfront

La semana santa, or in other terms the holy week here in Southamerica, is not only the celebration and commemoration of the greatest event in Christian, and I dare to say human history, with the accomplishment of the atonement, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the son of God, but also plainly and simply a week of vacation for everybody, inasmuch as a lot of shops close and even universities, which means we all had the chance to travel.

Plaza in Buenos Aires

After seeing my girlfriend off to go to EFY in Argentina, where I most unfortunately couldn't get a spot anymore, I planned my own trip from Montevideo to Buenos Aires and on to Bariloche in Argentina, to meet up with a friend who was already there, and just in advance and I'm sorry to disappoint you in this matter, no I did not meet the pope ... So finally after having gotten my 2 different tickets (which actually was quite a hustle) I took the bus from Montevideo to Colonia (3h) and from there on with the overnight-ferry to Buenos Aires, Argentina (3h). On my way there I met another exchange student friend from Montevideo (Lucy from England) and we travelled that part of the way together and she was able to help navigating in Buenos Aires. The trip was quite calm and comfortable, however I must say that Uruguayans (and I guess Argentinians, too) love to wait in lines!!!! Ridiculous .. A couple of hundred people waiting in a line, for what seems to equal the amount of 2 eternities, but yes I know times is different down here, wait ... What is that anyway ...?

Becci and I in the lift

But enough sarcasm for now, although I really think it improves quality of life, especially in situations like this, and let's get back to Buenos Aires, a 14 million world metropole and the Capital of Argentina, with tons of skyscrapers and hectic frenzy everywhere you look. Unfortunately I only caught a brief glimpse of this beauty, which is why I'll have to come back soon to explore it a little more. Suffice it to say, that traffic is super nuts (I experienced a 15 minutes honking concert, cuz our bus was blocking a 6way lane and blocking all the traffic, hahahaha don't ask me why^^) and that it huge and a lot faster than Montevideo. I made my way to the bus station, seeing a lot of street vendors, beggars and a lot of dirt, where I only had to wait for an additional 3 hours because my bus was late. Finally inside the quite comfortable and spacious double-decker, I was on the road again to Bariloche, Argentina, which meant we had to cross Argentina horizontally (about 1600km) jippijayeah!

View on a lagoon at Punta de Princesa

 

But the time was well spent, scripture reading, journal writing, eating, watching movies, sleeping and also introspection (man, you gotta try this sometime, quite some amazing stuff to be discovered!). The landscapes changing from skyscrapers, to apartments, to houses, to farms, to woods, to no farms and fields, to no farms, to nothing (seriously for about 3 h there was nothing outside .. No house no tree, nada ... Then a lonely settlement and then again nothing but our lonely forsaken road for the next couple of hours, splitting the desert savannah in 2), and then the mountains began, at first soft scarcely vegetated hills and then rocky and zerklüftet (withered) mountain formations, embedding a sky blue river, on to snow covered peaks at the horizon indicating the real Andes and the chilean border and our destination ...

Mountains!!!

After 39 hours of travel I arrived in Bariloche and was instantly captured by its stunning beauty: 7 beautiful crystal blue lakes surrounded by a great variety of mountain types, I have never seen before. With about 102,000 inhabitants and more of a tranquil resort, it almost appears as a sanctuary in the middle of nowhere for the stranded wanderer. I spent my time down there with Becky and we couch surfed in a hippie community, where everybody was really nice and welcoming, and they showed quite some skills with home growing plants, if you know what I mean ...
The main events of my stay in Bariloche where a crazy breathtaking 9 hour hike up Punta de Princessa, walking along the Kamm to el Refugio Frey and descending from there back to el Lago Gutierrez( words can't describe this, if you really wanna know what it's like, come down here and see for yourself!)

landscape along the road

Then we were guilty of committing a chocolate shopping spree, as Bariloche has gained world fame in producing chocolate and they are currently building the world's largest chocolate egg with 5m (about 17 feet) and are breaking and it eating it right now! And third, I finally felt like I have reached heaven, maybe not literally, but at least culinary speaking ... El Boliche de Alberto! I guess we all heard about the famous Argentinian beef, well let me say, I can totally confirm that, as I had the best steak in my entire life (and probably the biggest portion) and it was sooo good that we went there twice within 2 days, as it's not even that expensive. A huge steak, a huge pile of fries and a huge salad, and the meat was so tender and so tasty, that I'm totally running outta words to describe it ...

Nur fliegen ist schöner!!!! (check out the size of the bagpack in comparison to the steak^^)

 

So yeah, now on my way back (the same long one^^) I look back and must say, what a great place, what a great time! The on,y thing that could have been better would have been, if my sweetheart had been with me, because I missed her a lot, and there where many moments, where I thought, how awesome would that be if we could share this one together ...

Nahuel Huapi & I

 

At the end let's get back to the main point and central message of this week, which is that Jesus Christ, our loving elder brother gave his life for us as a ransom, so that he could act as a mediator between us and the father, if only we would give heed onto his gospel, which is believe in him, repent, be baptized, receive the gift of the holy ghost and continue faithfully in keeping the commandments. However he is not dead, but he overcame death so that we might also live and I know all this to be true, because my heavenly father answered my prayer and i know that he will answer every sincere prayer, even yours ... dare to ask ...

landscapes along the road #2

From Montevideo with Love

Time really lfies here and now it´s been already 4 weeks that I´m in beautiful Montevideo, Uruguay and I´m sorry I didn´t post last week but,  when I was talking about the survival of the fittest and twist and turns to spice up lifes in my last post, I didn´t really know that these 2 weeks would have some more of those in store for me …

Morning Run at the Rambla in Montevideo

With the end of the Intensive Spanish course, the actual semester at the Universidad Cátolica de Uruguay began this past Monday, and therewith some really demanding new challenges … The exchange student courses such as Cultura Uruguaya and Advanced Spanish (I somehow passed last week’s test and got admitted to this course) are not even too bad, and are actually understandable regarding my level of Spanish, but not the real classes that I am taking … that´s a different story. As expected, I didn´t understand a whole lot in my first couple of Organizational Behavior, Negotiations or Industrial Psychology (which is my new favorite class, because it´s just really interesting) classes, but in some distant future (hopefully before the exam period) I will be able to understand what´s going on … (As betimes I tend to exaggerate you might be well advised to read between the lines^^). But it is really exciting and I like challenges, so it´s great fun! 

Alfajor con dulce de leche (yes, it´s unhealthy!!!)

 

This week I was also able to observe some more very interesting features of Uruguayan culture (not in my culture class, which is rather a farce, as the professor tells us about how to drink Mate and about the Carnaval^^) for example a more than casual get – to know – circle during a lecture where the professor “mooched off” of another student by drinking probably his entire Mate (Mate is a kind of tea; very common in South America in general, but especially in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay; a little bit like a coffee/tea substitute, drank at almost every occasion (a nice way to socialize because it is normally shared with others) and carried around in typical Mate vessels (the herbs) and the Thermos (the hot water) and some kind of metal straw to drink it). Or that after a couple minutes of chatting you actually kiss your professor on the cheek (I would love to see some of our teachers faces if we did that :P )

Then we were also able to experience Uruguayan football lunacy, first hand, watching the World Championship Qualification Match between Uruguay and Paraguay with the other exchange students, and someone very special, we are going to talk about in a second … Patience, my friends!!! Dressed up according to Uruguayan soccer standards and equipped with flags we entered the stadium, where we got to see a rather middleclass boring football match, that unfortunately for my new beloved home, ended 1:1. But it was very interesting to observe that Uruguayans live and celebrate soccer with all their soul and express joy as well as frustration very explicitly!

URUGUAY!!!

From interesting features of Uruguayan culture to the first challenge that I had and still have to face, hanging over my head like a pending sword of Damocles, inasmuch as I might have to move again and look for another place to stay, due to reasons that exceed my simple level of comprehension. Nevertheless from a first misunderstanding, that I would have to move out immediately, over I could stay until I find another place to stay, to well maybe you might still be able to stay, we went through every notion! Of course a little bit disappointed, because I really like the people here and the place is pretty convenient for me, I started looking for alternative places to stay here in Montevideo. Right now, even I don´t know what´s it gonna be next week, but I will keep you posted!!!

Franca & me at the Rambla by night

And last but definitely not least, by any means, let´s talk about this very special person that not only accompanied me to the Football match, but that I spent quite a lot of time with in these last 2 weeks, and that might be the main reason, why I was a little bit busy and also explaining the rather promising title of this post^^ Well let´s say I met someone, who would have thought of that . . . I have a Uruguayan girlfriend!!! Here name is Franca (18), convert to the church, preparing to become a translator and studying Design, she is a really nice girl and I love her!!! So yeah I know, this has been kind of fast, but it feels very right … So we met for the first time at the Opening Ceremony of the Institute, where we were introduced to each other and started chatting, me making a bunch of stupid jokes and she offering to show me a around here in Montevideo, and as she seemed to be really nice (and cute!!!) I thought, well that sounds like a pretty good offer!!! So we started to hang out and check out some nice places here in Montevideo, and we seemed to like each other’s company and met a little more often, went out to dinner and just had a really great time, chatting, laughing, getting to know each other and  becoming friends. I won´t bore you with all the details such as faux pas, first kiss, or her cuddliness etc^^ and I mean a little privacy might be adequate anyway^^ Together we speak in English and Spanish and we are likewise each other´s private language tutor. And what started as a tourist and  tour guide relationship soon developed into something much deeper and now we love each other and are “officially” together.

 This week I had the treat to, of course spend a lot of time with Franca, but also in particular to meet some of her family members that live a little dispersed all over Montevideo, enabling me to see different parts of, or “the other” Montevideo, reminding me a lot of Mauritius. Her family lives about an hour away from the city center, nevertheless that is still inside of Montevideo, which is obviously a much outspread city, and they were all really nice and welcoming. I also got invited to have lunch with her grandparents, who live in a very nice little house on the outskirts of Montevideo! The food was great, the atmosphere very friendly and these 2 fellows are super fun to be around and we got along with each other really well, especially her grandpa Ruben is a blast, loud, jovial and a womanizer :P

I started my study journal again and would like to share a small lesson that I learned this week: I was studying the events preceding the final and infinite sacrifice of the Savior, the Atonement, and I stumbled over a fact that I never realized before: Right before they made their way to Gethsemane Jesus and his apostles sang a hymn! That really surprised me, but in second thought not at all, because through music and especially hymns God can be praised and worshipped, and many feelings and different moods can be conveyed and caused by different types of music. I was able to experience that first hand in my life. I really love music and the power that music has, in a workshop I once attended, it has been said, that a person that is singing cannot feel fear at the same time! I wasn´t able to prove this and I´ll let you be the judge thereof. Let it just be said, that music is something very beautiful and can be used to lift up, to rejoice and to beautify, so let´s all think about how we use music, and what kind of music we listen to and what influence this music has on us … adjustments might be necessary^^

My little "indigena" ice-monster

So yeah, that´s quite some news, and might come kind of unexpected, but as a good friend once said, wherever life may take me and I really like where it takes me right now. For right now the next destination of the wayfarer is Argentina, wish me luck & love you all!!!