Goodbye, Montevideo

Hellooo,
My last week here has been, well, relaxing to say the least. I made the weekly Arielle/Jen peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies for the family. After they came out of the oven and we gathered around the table to try them and with that offer the first taste of peanut butter to many present, my efforts to convince everyone to actually drink milk from a glass - plain, from a glass - was rather like pulling teeth. After a few minutes of begging, we finally enjoyed cookies and milk like a proper (North) American family.

Jani and I watched some good movies with her friends (Charlie Wilson's War had a really fantastic script that was not at all captured by the Spanish subtitles. The Hours was another good one, especially after reading the novel on which it is based as well as some works by Virginia Woolf.) I finished A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn (a real upper about life in a Stalin-era concentration camp,) and am now in the middle of some short stories by Pushkin. (Am working my way through the Werner household hand-me-downs.) I also went to the local theater with Jani and Graciela, but it was a really awful production. So awful in fact, that we left halfway through. Graciela still has not stopped apologizing for putting me through that, even though it is in no way her fault. Saul took me on a tour of the city and I was able to visit the museums and sites that remained on my list of places to see here in Montevideo. In other words, my days have been completely mine, and as much as I am enjoying this period, I think I need to go to school to maintain some sort of mental health. Life is tough when the only structural part of the day involves the time-table for classes at the local gym. At least I wake up, walk out on the balcony of Jani's room, and see this: (an unusually cloudy morning that cleared up about an hour later)

OK, well the time has finally come for me to move to Buenos Aires and actually go to school and do something productive with my life. I will miss traipsing around this city. As a parting gift to Montevideo, I offer a few reflections:

Malls
I have concluded that malls are universal. The ones I have visited in Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Canada, Ecuador... All boast the same stores, the same flourescent lighting, high ceilings, overwhelming advertising, and McDonalds. Prices are the same, and each building is completely devoid of the culture in which it is situated (except maybe American culture... I think that just might be everywhere. Maybe American culture is actually embodied by the mall structure itself. How sad.)
The Gym
The local gym that I have been visiting most days is in the city, so there are five floors that each serve different purposes (a horrible walk all the way up to the top.) While the machines are pretty much the same, exercise classes demonstrate a few interesting differences than the ones I have been to in the US. In general, the instructors do not actually do the exercises with you - they are there to teach and to help you improve. Also, motivation is conveyed in a dissimilar manner. Instructors hoot, hollar, whistle and clap at participants. It's kind of scary, especially in really fast Spanish.
The City
Montevideo is a really unique city. Its inhabitants are, as a whole, quite friendly, and I feel safe in most areas that I have encountered. I think much of this uniqueness comes from, as I discussed earlier, a strange necessity that Uruguayans feel to separate themselves from their larger, richer, and more famous neighbor, Argentina. This neighbor will soon be my home, and I hope to really explore those distinctions myself once I go there. I'll let you know what I find.
I think one of my favorite aspects of the city is the rambla (boardwalk along the beach) that skirts along the entire coast of the city. I have spent a lot of time there reading, walking, and people-watching. I was also able to spend time by the rambla at night, when I spent some time with another former Akron exchange student, Ari (he went to Revere HS for the year.)
The Food
In general, I am really enjoying the food here. I've found that it's very simplistic - with the exception of one restaurant, the food is prepared with negligible spices, and emphasis is placed rather on the quality of the main ingredients in the dish. There is never pepper on the table, though salt and olive oil are used with everything. Except, perhaps, chivitos. This is a very important part of Uruguayan food culture, and is comparable to our hamburger. It involves a tenderized slice of steak, a fried egg, bacon, ham, tomato, lettuce, olive tapenade, cheese, and various spreads. They are available on every block that I have yet visited in the city. One of my favorite desserts is a delicious Uruguayan specialty that I believe is also available in surrounding countries is called pastaflora, a simple pie made with quince marmalade as the filling.

Okay, so now I am off to Argentina. I have a little more than a week before school starts in Buenos Aires to acclimate myself to the city. Until next time, I leave you with a photo of the living room in the Witkind's apartment. (I spy a Don Drumm bowl)


Ciao ciao (bye bye)