Kilograms and Kilometers Kill me

So, time for another blog entry. I think I need to do this more often because I keep forgetting what I should write about. But now I will be able to start adding photos because I finally have a functioning camera!! I just posted my first pictures of Uruguay to Facebook today. Unfortunately they are not all that cool because I've only had it for a day. But there are many more to come! I have to get used to taking pictures of things. I'm a terrible tourist. Anyway, the past week:

First, El Prado. This is a yearly event which is 10 days long and resembles a county fair during the day. There are competitions for cows, horses, and sheep. Some of those cows were unbelievably big. But I got to pet them and the other animals and they were very cute! Too bad they will mostly be slaughtered. Uruguay is huge on beef and consumes the most red meat per capita in the world!! They also have fairly high rates of cancer and heart disease I've heard. There are also little stores to buy souvenir type things as well as various other things, including fancy local foods and lots of pancho (hot dog) and churro (tasty fried dough sticks) stands and other stuff. Then at night there is live music and after, they have temporary bars set up, making it a big party of nightclubs by around midnight. All this takes place in a park in a neighborhood of Montevideo and it's a huge event for the people here (I think one of my Uruguayan friends went at least 4 or 5 days so far). This weekend is the end of the 10 day spree. Maybe I'll end up there tonight and see how crazy it is.

Second, work. This week went pretty well. I starting teaching the World Cup song (K'Naan version in English) to some of the kids on Monday. It was completely impossible with the first graders and my patience was tested, but I am learning that I can't teach the same things to 5 year olds and 10 year olds. On Tuesday it was windy and rainy again so I didn't have class. And apparently this coming week is spring vacation (no one told me until I asked) so I don't have to work! Good thing I asked or I would've gotten up at 5 am on Monday, showed up at the school and found no one... So I'm thinking about doing a little traveling this week instead! I am planning to go to Punta del Este for a day with a friend, and I'm not really sure what else. I'll come up with something. Or maybe I'll spend the free time taking classes and doing tourist-y stuff in Montevideo to fill in some picture gaps.

This week I also went salsa dancing and took another tango class, ate some delicious empanadas (a El Taberno del Diablo) of several types, including one filled with dulce de leche, chocolate, and nuts. Soooo good.

Last night I went out to a parrillada called El Tigre with some classmates and friends. A parrillada is a restaurant that serves Uruguay's specialty, MEAT. A parrilla is a type of grill used here to cook the meat and a parrillada is a restaurant that specializes in that type of food. They have other food, but you go to a parrillada for the meat. So I ate meat. "Weird" meat. A friend and I had agreed that we would order a "parrilla para 2" and try everything. So, we did. I'm not sure exactly what all of it was, but I know it included regular cuts of meat ("vacio," basically a delicious steak, chorizo, which is sausage, and ribs), but also intestines (large and small), blood sausage, liver, and a few other things I think were brain and perhaps saliva glands. Yes, it sounds gross. It's surprisingly good. Here's what was left of the set when we were done. It's a bit of brain and intestines. So that was a very Uruguayan experience for me.

Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for a classmate's boyfriend. Should be fun. Hasta luego!