Of Excursions and Birthdays [Catch Up Post]

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote in this last! A lot has been going on. Which also means that if I don't update this now, I'm never going to be able to catch you all up with everything. I'll try to cover all the major things that have happened since last time I posted..

The fútbol game was really fun. Neither Equador nor Uruguay scored any goals, so they ended the game as a tie. Even though that was kind of a bummer, it was definitely a huge cultural experience. The entire stadium was filled with light blue clothing and Uruguayan flags and the crowd would frequently burst out in chants/songs.

The next weekend we went to Buenos Aires, which was one of the most amazing weekends I've had so far. We took a bus similar to a charter bus to Colonia, Uruguay and then got on a ferry that took us across the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires. I fell asleep on the bus before we even got out of Montevideo, so when I woke up to miles and miles of the greenest grass I'd ever seen, it was a pretty big shock. When all you've seen for two weeks straight is buildings and sidewalks, so much green was definitely a nice surprise. After I woke up I just stared out the window and watched the scenery as the sun set in front of us.

The next day, Friday, was filled with a three-hour tour of the city and two art museums. The tour was pretty interesting and we were able to make stops and see some popular sites, including the La Boca neighborhood, famous for their brightly colored buildings and street performers luring in tourists from all over the place:


Buenos Aires was incredible in itself. It is called the Paris of South America and with good reason - it is HUGE. I thought Montevideo was big, but it doesn't even compare to Buenos Aires. That night we all got dressed up and went to a Tango show/dinner. The food was amazing, and the show afterwards was just as good. It was a lot of fun to have an opportunity for everyone to get dressed up and have a night on the town afterwards.

Saturday evening we were able to go to a local church and meet with a big group of kids that were about our age from around the area. As amazing as the whole weekend was, I think this might have been my favorite night in Buenos Aires. We hung out at the church for a while and had a time of worship with them. Afterwards we decided to go to a place with several small fútbol fields and play soccer with people whose passion lies in those fields. We started walking to the fields and at least a good hour and a half later, we finally arrived. Needless to say, we got a good warm-up just walking to the fields. We broke up into teams of five, intermixing with the locals so that the teams wouldn't be TOO unevenly matched. Cindy and I played on a team with three of the local guys. It was pretty interesting because we found that guys generally do not pass to girls, so Cindy and I did not have a lot to do for a while and kept up the defense. Towards the end of the night, however, we started getting the ball more once our teammates figured out that we were pretty decent players :)
Here is our team:

Sunday morning we went to church to discover that there is a group of 60 students from Pepperdine University studying abroad in Buenos Aires! A portion of them were at the same church we went to, so we were able to spend time with them and hang out a bit later during the afternoon before we left to come back to Montevideo. It was exciting to see others studying abroad from the States and we got each others' names so we might be able to meet up again sometime later in the semester.


So that covers the main things that happened in Buenos Aires. The next week was pretty chill in Casa ACU because everyone was pretty tired from such a busy three-day weekend. The end of the week brought our first birthday here in Uruguay. Birthdays are becoming one of my favorite parts of living in Casa ACU. Raquel makes the most amazing cakes, and even though every meal she makes is basically guaranteed to be amazing, birthday meals are even more so, if that is even possible.
Earl's birthday was on Thursday, so we ended up making enough confetti to cover his entire bedroom floor and throwing it on him at midnight. Then we threw what I'm pretty sure has to be the first toga party Casa ACU has ever had.

Finally, this past Saturday we went to an Estancia about an hour and a half west of Montevideo. We were able to ride horses, go canoeing, and swim in an indoor heated swimming pool. It was a day filled with activities and we all were pretty beat by the end of the day. It was nice to get out of the city for a day and be surrounded by that abundance of green I was writing about earlier. Not to mention the horse I got to ride was an amazing pick. It was a very good day. I'll be sure to put up a picture or two once my friend Aaron puts his up onto facebook or shutterfly. [After my camera fell out of my pocket when my horse started trotting, I became a bit wary about keeping it out much - Don't worry, it is still good as new though.]
Here is a picture from our horseback ride and as we were pushing off in our canoe.


This weekend we are going to Colonia, the place mentioned earlier that we drove to in order to board the ferry for Buenos Aires. Apparently it is a city full of Uruguayan history and culture, so it should hopefully provide for more adventures and fun experiences.