Como he andado
Well this first week has most certainly blown me away. See that floating hand? Yup, mine. Keep reading for a round up of my first few days in Montevideo.
After arriving in Montevideo on Sunday morning, I took a walk through the city with other members of the group. The city was eerily empty. Very few people were on the streets and most of the stores in the more “touristy” areas were closed up. We did stumble across a type of Uruguayan food court called el Mercado del Puerto. It is an indoor market with several simple restaurants that grill incredible amounts of meat right in front of you. We tried tripe and blood pudding (which I’m not quite sure that particular mixture is, but I’m equally ambivalent if I really want to know) and watched Brazil play against the Ivory Coast.
Montevideo isn’t the most photogenic city, but for the most part, the Uruguayan people exude hospitality. The city is bit past its prime, with closed up shops and dilapidated buildings and the winter weather isn’t adding much of a gleam to city streets. But especially with Uruguay moving onto the next round of the World Cup (more on that later) there is a fierce national pride that can be found everywhere.
Monday was our first day of fieldwork. The school that we are studying is about 25 minutes away in a rural suburb of the city. The faculty and students have throughly welcomed our project and their kindness is at times a tad overwhelming. We are going to be taking a break from fieldwork for the next two weeks to learn more about the theory behind the work that we are doing. Being the not-so-closeted-nerd that I am, I’m excited to have readings again. We also are going to be learning a bit more about the XO computers, which are surprisingly hard to navigate coming from the Mac World. Things are not necessarily natural and having hands that are not the size of third graders’ is also a bit of an impediment.
I haven’t explored much of the city since I have been so busy from the eight hours of fieldwork that we’ve had each day. Our hotel is in a modest neighborhood and there is a mini supermarket a few blocks during from where we are. I feel as if it a safe part of the city. One of the things that throws me off though is how quiet the streets are once the sun goes down. Compared to Cambridge, the streets are almost empty starting around 6:30 or so. If there were more people on the streets, I would be more open to ambling along, but as of right now, I’ll save walks for the day time. Next week, we are also going to be spending more time at the Catholic University and although it will be their exam time, I hope to meet some students there that would be willing to show us around their city. As it is winter, I also think that the city is a bit more subdued than it would be during the summer time. But who knows, having homebody tendencies, I’m not too troubled with nights in bed with a good book.
Today was the Uruguayan game against South Korea!! We went down to the Old City to watch the same and found us a nice bar/sandwich type place. The seats in the front were apparently reserved so we parked ourselves in front of a TV in the back with a few friendly grandparents. Whenever Diego Forlan popped up on the screen, she would yell “¡Mi amor de mi vida! ¡Guapo! ¡Precioso!” I thought her husband took it fairly well. Even though I’m thrilled that Uruguay won, I have to admit that South Korea played a fantastic game. Sorry guys!
After the game, we took to the streets and watched all of the commotion. Eventually, we too jumped in the crowds and learned some of the cheers. It was a little hectic but the crowds were good natured and thrilled that there team was moving along to the next round. Ghana, here we come!
And for tonight, it looks like uploading some more videos and maybe watching “The Motorcycle Diaries” and more importantly, one of my favorite Mexicans, Gael García Bernal.
:-)
