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!!!

Montevideo – Survival of the fittest!
 

And there goes my second week here in beautiful Montevideo, hardly leaving me any time to fully recover from last week´s experiences and adventures, pacing on as if nothing had happened and always awaiting me with new and sometimes bigger challenges. So after having tasted to a very small extent of Uruguay´s diversity, I was able to take some bigger bites of it´s beauty and distinctiveness this week, savoring it step by step and one day at a time =)

El parque Rodo

At first, my quest has come to and, although not the one for the Holy Grail, but nevertheless very important to me, the quest for housing, living or simply a place to stay! After many days of searching and waiting, much effort and a lot of weird feelings (it does feel weird not having a place to stay, and not knowing where you are gonna sleep tonight^^), I finally found a place to stay with a new friend I made named Gonzalo and 6 other guys form the church, that share a flat together. They are all very nice and patient with my Spanish, but it´s getting better (that´s at least what they say …), but of course it´s not the same standard that I was used to in Germany, what a surprise^^, but it is decent, not too expensive and already is and will be very performance enhancing for my Spanish. Only inconvenience is the weak Wi-Fi-connection and the cleanliness at the apartment, other than that a great place with a bunch of pretty great guys!



La Ciudad Vieja por la noche (Towncenter at night)

My Spanish intensive course came to an end last Friday and we all had our final test, which was okay, but will be of no relevance for us anyway, it´s mostly for all the other foreign students, who haven´t taken the course, in order to evaluate their Spanish. I will definitely miss my funny, crazy Grandma like Spanish Professor with her great stories, e.g. her car got stolen and dumped in a jungle like swamp somewhere in el interior (entire Uruguay, except Montevideo) completely stripped down to the bones and even the police where afraid to go there, plus she didn´t even have insurance!!! Another crazy story happened (without intending to scare anyone): one of our exchange student friends woke up one morning and there were two guys with knifes standing in her room, stealing money, laptop, camera, iPod … but after begging them to leave the hard-drive, they were nice and did so. . . Just to let you know, I personally feel very safe here and never encountered any problems … so far!

Horse Carrige for waste disposal/collecting purposes

So besides the language classes and studying this week’s main focus was … partying!!! I seriously got invited to 4 birthday and 1 bachelor party! Hahaha pretty good for one week … I couldn´t attend all of them, but here are some of the pictures: and yeah, one birthday was Felix, el gato and some other friends down here. The bachelor party was of one the guys I live with as he´s gonna get married in 2 weeks!!! It was really great fun and people down here are very nice and accommodating!

Chivitos with my room mate Gonzalo

 

So yeah maybe some explanations regarding food down here: I mentioned that Uruguay will probably never be renowned for its haute cuisine, nevertheless they have some pretty tasty dishes here (and I hope I will discover some more!!!). But generally speaking food is not only really expensive in comparison to their incomes, but also quite unhealthy: Burgers, Fries, Hotdogs, meat … or variations thereof. The first picture shows a meal called Chivitos, basically a thin steak (Schnitzel) with ham and cheese, on a pile of fries and often some kind of potato salad, topped with some veggies, either as sandwich or al plato and an egg sunny side up. As I said, pretty tasty, but rather unhealthy! The next picture probably shows my favorite meal so far: Uruguayan Barbecue Plate for 2!!! Lots of different kind of meat and a great variety of baked or grilled veggie were a real treat and portions here (as you may see) are rather huge!!!

The Huge Barbecue Plate

 

Enough of food! We also had our first almost real University experience (the real real one will be next week, as lectures start tomorrow!) as we had all our info meetings for exchange students and the different faculty presentations, of course all in Spanish! But it was very informative and now we have to choose our classes and that´s gonna be very exciting. So far I will probably take 6 classes, 3 exchange student classes, namely Advanced Spanish, Uruguayan Culture, and Community Service (I´m very excited for that one, because we will also get to know the other parts of Uruguay, that we normally wouldn´t) and 3 normal classes, Industrial Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Negotiation Techniques. So I am really excited for next week, although I know that it´s gonna be more than super tough probably for the entire first month, because I wouldn´t understand 10 % of the words, if it all was in German, well and it´s gonna be in Spanish, so I will have to live of the 10 % that I do understand … :P

Kids playing in "some kind" of sand pit

I´ve been to the temple again this week, and it was beautiful and inspiring as every time, I´ve seen a street rock concert right on main street and a street basketball tournament and we all started to make plans for our trips around here, as we will have an entire week of for Easter! So I still love it here, although sometimes (yesterday) felt like 100% humidity!!!, but at least it´s nice and warm, although we just entered in the winter time! And I really enjoyed skyping with a part of my family!

My University from the sun deck

 

Inspirational thought of the week: I can´t remember how we started talking about it, but we were talking about the purpose and sense in life with some fellow students, and as so often it is not easy to find an answer to that question, but my fellow student didn´t know why she was here, so I asked if she was looking for the answer or the purpose … Well, at least, if I didn´t know the why to (my) life, I would start looking for that answer, because I know that there is an answer . . . maybe you should start searching too . . .

My new address (as I would be more than delighted to receive postcards, letters, or packages^^) is:

Sebastian Zacherl

Mercedes 1188, Apt. 101

Montevideo 11100, Uruguay

I love and miss all of you, be safe and see you again next week!

 

The Arrival in Uruguay

Sometimes life has really interesting twists and turns in store to spice up your life, to put everything upside down or just to over roll you with a wave of new impressions and experiences. And sometimes travel and living in a foreign country brings so much change at once, that it just feels like a giant flabbergasting slap in the face, that leaves you quite far outside of your nice and cozy comfort zone, pondering the motives and reasons behind such adventure, until you stand up and actually start embracing the new world . . .

Tres Cruses - Uruguayan Flag

 

Well I guess that´s kind of how I felt at least to some extent when I landed here in Montevideo after almost a day of travel (Salt Lake – Dallas – Miami – Montevideo) being at the airport all on my own, without anybody, not knowing where I am, where I would go and why I am here. That was actually the main challenge to find a place to stay, and not only temporarily, but a permanent place! Kind enough that my friend Basti from the Uni in Deg, let me stay at his place for the first couple days until I would be able to find something on my own, however that took a little bit longer than I expected.

Beside the overshadowing search for a place to stay (and feeling like a bum^^) it was really amazing and I love it so much down here. But the first days were really interesting and equally challenging … Just trying to figure out which bus to take and especially where to with my more than poor Spanish, was quite crazy, but I didn´t want to pay 930 Pesos (for the taxi as did my friend) but rather 36 Pesos and risk a little adventure by bus fully loaded with luggage. But I did make it on the right bus, nevertheless I did not at all recognize the place where to get off (supposedly a huge traffic station, but no sign, nada) and so I went way too far and had to take the bus back and forth … Well after quite some time and an exhausting 30 min uphill walk (with luggage) I arrived at my destination.

The place was really nice, but not available for long-term, and for South-America really expensive (400$/room), but that´s Uruguayan standard. Living costs are almost as high as they are in Germany, especially food and gas, it´s really crazy down here, but I love it. Even only after a week one is already able to feel the flair and the ambience of Montevideo sneak its way into our lives: Punctuality, being on time, traffic rules, waste disposal and logic don´t seem to exist down here, instead they have village like tranquility paired with frantic city life, beautiful trees and fine beaches, skyscrapers and old bourgeois houses. It´s a very interesting and divers place and with its almost 1, 5 million inhabitants about as big as Munich, nevertheless it feels like a cosmopolitan village. Trees and green everywhere you go, as well as dirt and torn up, broken sidewalks, new meets old, green meets asphalt and South America meets Europe, as almost 95% of the population is of European (Spanish, Italian) decent.
 

But enough of this and back to my story … So basically what I tried to do, was finding a housing accommodation with some members down here in Montevideo, and so I started looking up addresses of churches, institute buildings and the temple, in order to meet someone who could help me, well and of course then I started looking for these places in a completely unknown city! I can tell you that was quite fun and after an entire day going back and forth through almost entire Montevideo, I had gathered some contacts and of course prayers were answered and I met a nice YSA and my future bishop at the temple (and they even allowed me to do a session!) So first success!!! And my first Sunday also was just a blast, members were welcoming and friendly, and although I didn´t understand a whole lot, I felt that I belong here … And I met so many great young people and got invited right away to attend choir, an evening program, institute and activities: that felt really great and was actually what I missed most living in Deggendorf … I met Matias and his wife that invited me to dinner and who helped me communicate, when my Spanish wasn´t good enough and we became friends really quickly and then I met some more YSAs at the choir and they took me down to the Rambla (the street parallel to the beach) and later on a house – cake party!!! Pretty good start =)

Los estudiantes de Intercambio

And of course as I´m gonna have all my classes in Spanish, I better brush up on my Spanish and so I started taking intensive Spanish classes at the University with some other dozen people from the States, good old G. and the Netherlands. We all try to get our head around the Spanish language and have 4 hours with a Uruguayan teacher every day to accomplish that. Progress is slow, but I start feeling something^^ And I mean, they really do speak very fast and mumbled here and have a very distinct way of pronouncing several letters, that makes it sometimes quite hard to understand them …  But I start to understand people and even already had several hour-long discussions in Spanish Wooohoooo!!! People tell me my Spanish is great, but I know that my grammar sucks!!! Anyway, I´m gonna get there!!!

Beside that we went out to have dinner a couple times, they eat really unhealthy here special burgers, special hot dogs, interesting pizza (also available in meters!!!), of course steaks (super expensive) and Italian pasta, we visited parts of the town, a couple museums, marveled about the beautiful architecture, I´ve been to a Volleyball activity, and at the institute and we tried to get set up (oh, I forgot the initial struggle to get a sim-card … let´s just say, it took forever and we walked 5 miles back and forth, and ended up finding what we wanted right next to our house :P ).
 

The weather is also very particular, very nice warm and sunny and then a couple hours later it might be the biggest rain storm ever, or it just gets chilly almost unexplainable … very interesting, in general it´s really warm and nice, but we are approaching the end of summer and it´s supposed to get colder and colder (people act as if an ice age was approaching), and of course the Uruguayos love talking about the weather … as well as about soccer and politics! It´s been a very exciting first week, in an amazing city, with a very peculiar people and an interesting culture that I am going to explore …

Experiencing the American Dream!

I can hardly believe that it´s only been a little less than 2 weeks, that I left home and loved ones behind to head out for a little adventure, so many wonderful things have I experienced over here in the land of the free and the land of dreams. It has been an immensely enriching and unbelievably terrific experience for me because of so many great people and good friends. Thank you so much for making this possible!



In front of the Timpanogos Temple



So after my brief visit in Miami, I left sun, beach and palm trees behind, to head northwest towards the eternal snow-covered mountains of Utah, with its splendid capital Salt Lake City and many many old friends to visit. This time the flight was rather uneventful (over Dallas to Salt Lake) and I was awaited and picked up at the airport by our former Institute couple in Munich, the Coverstons, that took me in, as if I was one of their own. We spend a couple of really nice days together, had lot´s of tasty Mexican food, laughed and talked a lot and got to know most of the temples around their domicile, as the first 2 we approached were closed, but I got some nice pictures (Draper Temple, Oquirrah Mountain Temple, Jordan River Temple).

From there I went to explore downtown Salt Lake City (with public transportation!!! progressive America ^^), including the beautiful temple square, where I spent almost 3 hours looking for Alica Klemm (a good friend from my home ward serving her mission at temple square) getting to know almost all the sisters (including 2 French sisters I knew from Bordeaux^^) and we had such a great time catching up and I was really happy that I found her!

For Lunch I got invited by my mission friend and travel companion^^ Jenny and it is just such a blast to see your old mission friends again, it is as if it was yesterday and nothing has changed!!

The next stop was at the Woods (a former mission couple that served their entire mission in my ward) they are so great, you can only love them! We went out for dinner and I had the biggest rack of ribs I´ve ever seen, and probably the best tasting too. In the morning classic American Breakfast with waffles, bacon, maple syrup, berries and whip cream! (really tasty, although probably not recommended for weightwatchers^^) And they even lent me their car, however this term is at least to some extent misleading, as this Chevy Suburban, was definitely the biggest SUV I´ve ever seen (at eye level with the real trucks + ca 20 l/100km). However without this cute little monster it would have been difficult to get around, as not only fries, burgers, and tips are bigger in the states, but also streets, buildings, distances and people =)

From there on I spent most of the time with my favorite adopted little brother aka Daniel Rellaford in and around Provo and on BYU campus. I moved into his apartment with his 2 awesome appt. mates Mike and Austin; I must say again you guys are a blast!!! They welcomed me like brothers, inasmuch as they even wanted to keep me as a fourth roommate ;) We visited Daniel´s family in American Fork and had a terrific evening together eating (enchiladas), chatting (vive la France) and laughing (Chuck Norris) at their house! A really nice family =) I met his stunning girlfriend (and I hope future Ms. Rellaford^^), had my first Jdawg (best Hot Dog I ever had, and if a German says so ...), we played Ultimate Frisbee with 25 others for over 2 hours (greets from the sore muscles) and together we celebrated a Mauritian mission revival tradition at probably my favorite food place in the States (followed by Café Rio, the best Mexican food I had): Tucanos, alias all you can eat Brazilian grill with buffet, and a constant supply of any kind of yummy meet and fish, served on spears and cut right on your plate!!! Delicious, but almost as filling as Mauritian hospitality ...

We also had a small local Provo mission reunion with Jenny, Caitlin, and of course D. and me where they made me cook Rougaille Saucisse for us, a very traditional dish from our mission (La Reunion) and again it felt so great to see everyone again, like in the good old times!!! I was also able to see Bernier (sorry for making you cry! we had some way delish, however spicy buffalo wild wings^^) and also Mathis Farbsworbs^^ who came down all the way from Logan to hang out with us. I randomly ran into people I know like LeStarge (missionary from Mada) or Melissa Günther (once in the street and then again at Music & the Spoken word, which by the way was simply amazing and a real treat for the ears + they had a special performance of a really crazy guest director and the in-laws of Melissa invited me to have lunch with them!)

Oh, and I finally got to watch Les Miserables and of course the original English version and I just loved it! It is such a great book, probably the best Musical and the movie too, must not be ashamed to bear the name of the master piece. The beautiful story is so rich and so deep, that many books have been written about it, but I just love how Hugo points out that even the most miserable creature can be helped and changed by a sublime act of kindness and mercy, prompting repentance and restoring joy and sense in life. The movie conveys these messages wonderfully and sticks very close to the musical, as even the entire film is being sung. The performance in singing was only to be exceeded by the performance of the acting (especially Fantine and Jean Valjean), a must watch for anybody, who likes music or good stories!

It was also really nice to see Jamie again and we had a great time together catching up (by the way she got called to the Brazil, Florianopolis Mission!), having fun at the Nickel Arcades (super cheap fun gaming facility) and getting beaten in Laser Tag by a bunch of semi-professional missionaries on their pday! It was great fun anyway =)

During my stay in Utah I visited 7 temples and went inside of 4 (including my first live session at the Salt Lake Temple!!!), I was stunned by the awesomeness of the on-campus YSA-wards in Provo, the many many steeples that pop up basically around every corner and driving in the US can also be considered a very unique experience (I guess I was missing the German Autobahn, I got hold up by a police officer for speeding on the freeway, but I was able to talk myself out of it playing the GERMAN card :P )

Also spiritually this was a really great trip, not only because of the many temple visits and the Singles-Wards, but also because of a very special tour around temple square, where I was able to watch a film, explaining beautifully God´s purpose for us as families. Maybe like never before I felt and understood the sublime perfection and beauty of God´s plan applying directly to a family, it´s really hard to explain, but may it suffice to say, that I know with all my heart that God lives, loves us and wants us to be happy in the family unit and wants us to return in the very same unit into his presence. Families can be forever!

At the end I just want so say thank you soooo much to all those who made this trip not only possible but also such a great experience! It was one of the best times I´ve had and I will always remember you, your kindness and your hospitality! Especially the Coverstons, the Woods and my homie Daniel. But I love all of you & I am really grateful and feel very blessed to have such good friends!

May the force be with you!

 

 

 

 

 

Bienvenidos a Miami!

Over Miami ...

Or in other words, the unexpected somehow is always pretty unexpected! But we will get to that later … So after having said good bye to almost everybody and after a night of last minute packing my luggage, with not too much sleep I headed to Munich airport. My first destination: Miami, Florida. The flight to London Heathrow was without any problems, except that I was amazed by the huge airport, but in London itself things started to get pretty tricky. At arrival I checked the board with all the departing flights and found a flight to Miami which wasn´t to be announced for boarding for another 2 hours … So after 2 hours I went to the now announced gate and presented my ticket … and it was not my flight: At first startled, then shocked I realized: destination Miami, but with Virgin Atlantic and my flight was with American Airlines!!! Long story short … I missed my connecting flight on to Miami and on top of it, it was my fault! Feelings of shock and unbelief almost turned into despair and devastation, and I already started praying on my way to the transfer desk. However I was not only lucky, but also beneficiary of some sort of divine assistance, as this nice lady found me another flight to Miami a few hours later with another airline without even charging an (mandatory) transfer fees!!! 

Malcolm & I at Hollywood Beach (Miami, Florida)

Now I had to change terminal again and go through security again, unfortunately after having bought a 200ml bottle of perfume in the duty free shop! I felt like the stupidest idiot in the world!!! But again, putting everything on one card, I started to pray that they would let me pass, and miraculously after having talked to the guy about my problem he forgot about it and let me through with my perfume! I felt like a little kid on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter together!!!

In my effort to get in contact with my friend in Miami (Malcolm) to tell him about the flight change I met a famous DJ and musician named Adam Clay (Babylonia), who was very kind to me and of great help!!! Pretty cool =)

Well and finally I made it to Miami in one piece with a different flight and three hours late, but Malcolm was my best man, picked me up and had my stay in Miami already planned out! By the way he is the man!!! And this is basically my first real USA experience as before I´ve only been to the MTC, and that does not really count. So we went out and spent a really nice evening having dinner with two amazing girls (one of them almost proposed to me, Schnitzel :P), I got to know his family, he showed me around in Miami, downtown and the different districts, we had the best donut ever at ????, enjoyed Miami at night, went to have breakfast at the beach, took a quick swim in the ocean and had real Mexican tortillas, that were almost worth missing my flight! That´s what I would consider to be a good day!

Miami itself reminds me a lot of my Mission climate wise and with its beautiful vegetation (so many palm trees!!), the nice beaches and it´s flair for diversity. However it is a lot bigger, roads are huge, we encounter tall and modern buildings mixed with Hispanic haciendas and nice mansions or villas and the diversity is foremost spiced up by Hispanics and Afro-Americans. It´s really pretty and probably el Paraiso Americano. It´s a place where dreams are made, can come true and really easy to fall in love with: for me it took less than 24 hours . . All this was possible because of Malcolm Torino. Thank you so much, you are amazing and we will definitely meet again … Hasta pronto!