Where Did the Time Go?

As we mentioned waaaaaaaay back on October 1st, we were going to be a little more distant timewise as of October 29th. So we are now 6 hours ahead instead of 5. Doesn't effect emails, but does effect times when we are available to chat online or talk on the phone.

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So what does she do all day?

Hello friends and family....Gaucha Guapa here! I realized that I have not mentioned much of what I do each day, besides taking yoga and Pilates classes! I do maintain about 3 classes a week, sometimes a few more if I have the opportunity to try a new class or a new studio. I am still enjoying being in the kitchen, and cook for us most nights. (We have discovered that dairy and meat doesn't have quite the shelf life as our US counterparts, so "ir de compras" (grocery shopping) is a regular task.) However, my daily activity that is most consistent is my Spanish class. A few weeks after we arrived I started taking Spanish classes with a private tutor 3 times a week for two hours. We actually have the class in a old theatre building about 20 minutes away by foot from the house. Recently, I switched to five times a week for two hours so it could be more of an immersion program. I can really tell a difference in my speaking abilities when I am attending class every day. I can also tell notice a difference on the days when El Torero and are speaking in Spanish and the other days when we are too lazy! For instance...


I have to admit that this week I have taken the easy route and initiated much more English in the house than Spanish. In addition, my class was canceled on Wednesday and Thursday. Yesterday (Thursday afternoon) I went to tea with a friend here. After neglecting my Spanish for a few days I was all tongue tied and struggling to conjugate my verbs. Luckily, she is very patient!
Moral of the story... if ya don't use it...ya loose it!

So my Spanish lessons continue for about another month. After that I will take more time to read the paper in Spanish, and continue always trying to talk to as many people as possible. Many Uruguayans tell me that I speak "bastante bien" (good enough/that I speak pretty well) so this is encouraging! I am still striving towards my goal... to be practically fluent by the time I come home.
Let's all cross our fingers!

I miss you all very much and hope to hear from you soon!
-GG

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Santa Misa

There are three churches near us: (A) Esclavas del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, "Slaves of the Sacred Heart of Jesus;" (B) Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, "Our Lady of Mercy (Not Misery as someone originally thought); and (C) San Juan Bautista, "Saint John the Baptist."

Which of these three did we choose?

(A) Slaves of the Sacred Heart! Not because of the cool name, but because of the awesome music.

Uruguay is famous in Latin America for its relatively weak Church vis a vis the State and society. A comic from 1904, which I am struggling to find my copy of, comparing Uruguayan and Argentine culture had two figures, one a priest and the other a politician. In Argentina the priest was big, strong, and assured, while the politician looked like a skinny beggar. In the Uruguayan frame, it was the opposite. Current statistics hold that only 66% of Uruguayans are Roman Catholic, 31% are non-religious or "other." For those reasons I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are three churches near our apartment.

I digress.

Each of the churches had their favorable attributes. Our Lady of Mercy is small and quaint, with a warm, rose-tinted interior. St. John the Baptist is big and beautiful, and has a friendlier-sounding name, but Slaves of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is where the music is. It doesn´t hurt that the homilies are good, either.

Music at the 7 p.m. mass is led by Agustina and another young woman (who´s name currently escapes me). Both play guitar really well and sing two part harmony. I joined the choir for the first time last Sunday and it was fun. We get together to go over the music only a half-hour before mass, which in my case is just too little to really rehearse and warm up. At St. Mark´s we had hour long practices during the week which really prepared us for singing and playing together. Music there was also led by the best choir director on the West Coast, in my humble opinion; and yes I have been to St. Monica´s.

The music at SSHJ has a wide and interesting range. The mass parts are somewhat gauchesque (rural or pampean), and Agustina has a tendency to pronounce words like an Andalucian, which means some consonants and word endings are missing. The responsorial psalm is spoken, although at one mass we had the pleasure of listening to a novitiate chant it. Other songs are distinct, but because it´s only been a few weeks, there hasn´t been any repetition to speak of except for the closing song "Estamos Vivos" (We are alive). It has a late 1950´s, early 1960´s feel with a "la, la la la la la, la la la la la-ah" at the end of the verses and an echo on some words of the refrain.

Another interesting tidbit is that the music is not written out so the choir, and I assume the congregation, just knows how it is supposed to sound. Okay, so there is a type of scoring, but it would take me month or so to get used to it. It reads like the "Sound of Music." Songs are written in the keys of "Do," "Re," "Mi," "Fa," "Sol," "La," "Ti" with Major and Minor variations as well. But there are no notes to speak of, at least not that I have had the priviledge of seeing.

I hope to take some audio/video of the songs to share in the next few weeks. If anyone is interested send me an email.

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The Teatro Solis Experience

Monday, Columbus Day here in Uruguay, was a general holiday where government employees, banks, and other essential, but not too-essential workers had the day off. For me that meant a day I couldn't get to my beloved books and workstation in the National Library. (I think it might not need explaining, but the words in "red" that become underlined--when the cursor is placed over it-- in our posts are links to pictures, generally the case, or other websites with cool stuff. If you didn´t notice this before, check out previous posts for things you might have missed. =) )

GG and I stayed in reading our respective books and decided to take in another show, this time at the Teatro Solis. You saw a picture of the interior seats in our Heritage Day post. Now let me tell about what it is to see a performance from those seats!

We were fortunate to get top notch seats, roughly dead center, sixteen rows from the front for a performance of the Montevideo Philharmonic led by Alondra de la Parra, a guest conductor originally from Mexico, and founder and artistic director of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas in New York. She's currently working on her Master's Orchestral Conducting at Manhattan School of Music, and is the Principal Guest Conductor of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra. Ms. de la Parra has accomplished all this by the age of 25. If one day we get to see her conduct again (hint: maybe someone who knows how these things work could bring her to Santa Barbara for an Arts and Lectures appearance/performance???) it would be an experience I would invite everyone to see.

The musical melody of Arturo Márquez´s Danzón Nº 2 (1950) started the fantastic evening. GG had never been to a philharmonic/orchestra performance before and was amazed. Ms. de la Parra brought a little dance to her conducting, enjoying the rhythm and sound in a way those of us bound to our chairs could only watch and be mezmorized.

After a brief stage change we were treated to pianist Agathe Leimoni´s interpretation of Edvard Grieg´s Piano Concierto in A minor Op. 16 (1868) with orchestra accompaniment. She played a few other works after rousing applause brought her back on stage.

A longer intermission (a smoke break that many took advantage of to the dismay of those of us who could smell it back in our seats) and then up was Gabriel Fauré´s Pelléas et Mélisande -Suite (1889). (Sorry no link to the music) It was unfamiliar to me, but good.

Closing the evening was a Igor Stravinsky´s Firebird Suite (1919), exerpts which can be heard here and, with a somewhat "interesting" interpretive dance, here. Dark and, yet, brilliant, this suite and concluding performance, along with the opening were my favorite performances of the evening. Ms. de la Parra and the Montevideo Philharmonic received a standing ovation in the end.

We hope to see some more shows in this fabulous theater before leave Uruguay as it is very accessible transportationally (we got there and back by bus) and financially ($13.00 for the two of us were the most expensive seats in the house this evening).

(To you editors out there, I know that "logistically" would have been the correct word, but I am quite happy with the one I made up.)

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West Side Story

Tonight we saw West Side Story at the Comedia Musical. El Torero had never seen the production before. It was a much more modern version and slightly shorter in length. Of course it was all in Spanish, including the songs. However, the names of the gangs escaped translation. They are still the Jets and the Sharks.! "Play it cool, boy....real cool....."
I love this musical, and it was fun to see this rendition. The US Embassy, along with other organizations, helped fund the musical.

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Montevideo in the Paper!

There's not really too much to this post except to tell you all that Montevideo made it into the New York Times.

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Totopos!

I can not say I felt as if I was walking in to a restaurant in Guadalajara, because I have never been to Mexico. However, I did feel as if I was entering some little spot we would find at home in Santa Barbara. La Lupita's Comida Mexicana creates the tastes and flavors of a Mexican kitchen, with a few adaptations for the Uruguayan palate.

As I walked into the restaurant, I was immediately impressed by the style and decor of this Mexican Cafe. Paintings by Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and symbols of ancient Mayan art gave a sense of ethnic flare, while fabrics and rugs adorned the room with bright colors. El Torero and I chose a small table underneath a caricatured map of Mexico. We located the cities of my ancestors and his family as we playfully mapped out our next trip. It was about 9:00pm on a Saturday night, the typical time Uruguayans START to think about eating dinner. However, we were not the only early birds. The cafe was about 1/3 full, and continued to get busy as the night went on.

Enough about the ambiance. ON TO THE FOOD...


My first squeal of delight came when they brought us tortilla chips, guacamole, "salsa", and sunflower seeds. (Totopos is the name for tortilla chips here in Uruguay. I need to find out why.)
The guacamole was tasty, though of course it had nothing over El Torero's homemade guacamole. The "salsa" was less impressive, as it tasted very similar to tomato sauce. As we munched on sunflower seeds and "totopos" we began to scan the menu. It was all there - tacos, enchiladas, chilaquiles, mole, "rellenos". We had been walking all day around town for the "Dia del Patriminio" and hadn't eaten since noon. Everything sounded good.

I decided to choose a "relleno" de mole, thinking it was a chile relleno stuffed with mole. Right? Wrong. Good thing I grilled the waiter with questions before ordering. "Relleno" simply meant "filled" (of course! We are speaking Spanish, Gaucha!). So, rellenos were the taco fillings. I could choose three fillings for a combination plate with rice and beans. I chose pollo con rajas, alambre (shredded meat) , y pollo con mole poblano. Though Torero was tempted by some of the more exotic sounding Mayan dishes, he opted for a plate of Chilaquiles con pollo and a quesdilla to start. Sadly the menu did not have horchata, though Coronas and margaritas were listed.

Shortly thereafter our food arrived. I am sorry I do not have a picture, but I was WAY too excited to eat. I chose well. My simple corn torilla tacos with "rellenos" were fantastic. The pollo con rajas tasted as if it was slow cooked in a tasty sauce of tomatoes and peppers. The shredded meat was just as tender, with a more subtle flavoring, allowing the taste of the delicious Uruguyan meat to take the staring role. The mole was by far my favorite. Mole is an interesting taste. (Some would say an "acquired" taste, but I think that sounds snotty.) It bears my favourite ingredient - chocolate, along with dozens of other Mexican spices. To me, it is a flavor that takes you back in time.

Sadly, Hugo's choice was not as noteworthy. The chilaquiles resembled a sort of lasagna, but lacked enough juice and sauce to make them really savory. The beans and rice were alright, but again could use some additional flavors. (Tomato, cumin, pepper, SALT.)

My appetite was still yearning for more home-cooking, so we agreed on ordering dessert. El Torero chose wisely this time- pears soaked in tequila with a scoop of creamy vanilla ice cream. Delicious. I toggled back and forth between arroz con leche and the speciality cheesecake of the house. AHHH Cheesecake. I had to choose this. Thanks to my mom, cheesecake is another comfort food for me. With El Torero's help I had no problem gobbling up the large piece they gave me. It was lovely. A tart-like crust, creamy Philadelphia cream cheese filling, topped off with slices of mango. A happy Gaucha I was.

You may think after all this food we waddled back home. Truthfully, I felt great. At home in California I would never say Mexican food is one of my favourite cuisines. But when you are far away from familiar comforts a little bit of soul food goes a long way.

Que aproveche.

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Dia del Patrimonio (or Heritage Day)

Reality check!!! We're not house-hunting. We're students. We don't want to settle down just yet; not in a country half a world away. We love California. We love our family and friends. Who knows, one day we may make an investment in Uruguay, but for now, we enjoy living and learning about our host country. It's good to know that many of you want to keep us close. Believe me, you are all close to our hearts wherever we are. =)

The pictures that you see in our previous post are indeed of a residence; one that is NOT for sale. Its the Palacio Pietracaprina, named for Roberto Pietracaprina who commissioned it, and is now the residence of the Ambassador of Brazil.

Construction began in 1913 in the Ciudad Novísima (the name given the section of Montevideo past what is now Bulevar Artigas) where there was more land available and few restrictions on the dimensions of the buildings. The period 1900-1930 (roughly speaking) were years of economic growth and expansion in Uruguay enabling people like Pietracaprina (I don't know what he did for a living, but he was at one time the president of the Uruguayan Automobile Club), Dr. Fernando Darnaud (whose residence is now the home of the Russian Ambassador), among others, to compete with one another by building ostentatious mansions.

Anyways, we spent the day seeing old mansions, taking walking tours along the streets of Pocitos led by architectural students, sitting in at a rehearsal at the Teatro Solis, strolling through General Garabaldi's home, listening to live music (one group a choir in the crypt of the Catedral de San Francisco de Asis, whose repertoire included "Music of the Night" from the Phantom of the Opera), watching a couple married for over 50-years dance tango together and enjoying every second, and then eating Mexican food at Lupita's for dinner.

It was quite a day as you can imagine.

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Happy Anniversary to Us!

Okay, okay... I know that six-months of married bliss does not necessarily call out for celebration, but hey, that's why we fell in love in the first place; we love happiness and celebrating all the little things in life.

And we are really loving Uruguay. The people are really friendly; the weather is great; the food is amazing... so we actually went looking at some properties. As many of you may know, I love summer so an ideal life would include a place in two hemispheres. One in the North, California of course, and one in the South, why not Uruguay?

Real estate in Uruguay is denominated in US dollars so there isn't a currency exchange benefit, but housing costs aren't as sky high as they are in Santa Barbara.

We went to an open house and fell in love with one. We're currently figuring our financial status to know how much we can bid as we are not the only ones interested.

Enjoy the pictures and tell us what you think!

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Yoga in Uruguay

Sadly, one of the items left behind in California was my yoga mat. I regretted not bringing my mat the moment we had our own apartment and I had space to practice. After some searching (and forty dollars later) I found a yoga mat here. It is a good mat, albeit made in China, sent to the U.S., and then imported to Uruguay! It is a beautiful celestial blue color and a good thickness. All-in-all I am SUPER happy to have a mat to once again practice on. I do have my teaching manual from my training, full of information, a few DVDs, and some music. I also recently purchased a beautiful book in Spanish called "El Libro del Yoga y de Salud Para La Mujer. But that is only the beginning of my luck with yoga here in Montevideo...

I had tried a class or two at a local gym. It was really nothing more than some basic stretching. I was sharing this with the wonderful Gabby (my mom's client's cousin who lives in Montevideo!) and once again she was a wealth of information. After learning that I was a yoga teacher in the states and currently trying to find classes to take here, she turned me on to Centro de Alternatives. It is a fantastic center, full of classes for yoga, pilates, tai chi, and even cooking classes. I was completely surprised and thrilled a center like this existed in Montevideo and is located 10 mins away. I met the owner last weekend. She is wonderful lady who has done an enormous amount of traveling all around the world. She decided she wanted a center here in Montevideo where she could have everything in one place. She has told me when I feel ready with my Spanish I am welcome to teach at her center. I am flattered!

An added perk is the first time you take any class it is free. So for the last two weeks I have been trying a smattering of yoga and Pilates. Pilates is new to me. Thus far I enjoy it and I do feel fantastic after the classes. Does anyone have any feedback/success stories/info regarding their experience with Pilates?

As for the yoga classes, I have found one I really love. Sis, you would love this class. You should see me practicing those chaturangas! The class always includes a practice of inversions as well (head stand, shoulder stand) which is good training for me since I lack the discipline ( or courage ) to include these in my own practice.

Most of the other classes are in a style of yoga called Sivananda. I am very familiar with this style of yoga and I have a lot of respect for it, but it is not a style I am interested in for myself. However, I am grateful to the Sivanandans. Their center is where I found my mat.
It is a lot later than I like to practice, but that is life in Uruguay!

Anyway, check out the website. Most of you will agree it is right up my alley!

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We welcome the Spring!

Aren't these flowers, which are in season here in Uruguay, beautiful? A lovely present from El Torero. ¿But wait, aren´t calla lillies spring flowers, prevalent around Easter? As most of you fully know but may not realize, the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are the opposite of those experienced in the North. So, while you are preparing for the fall hues of yellow, orange, and red, we´re witnessing the reappearance of white, yellow, and fushia tree blossoms and tiny green leaves. And by January, we´ll be walking around in shorts and short sleeved shirts on the beaches, eating locally grown peaches, having barbecues and enjoying the heat of summer. We´re effectively skipping winter 2006.

October 1st marked the beginning of Spring for us and as the tradition goes we have "sprung forward" one hour. For all our friends in California, we are now five hours ahead; 2 hours ahead of the east coast folk. (As of October 29th, we will be six hours ahead of you west coasters because you will be going off standard time (falling back an hour), which will make calling us a little more tricky...

Did you all know we have a U.S. phone number? If you do not have it and would like to call us, just drop me an email and I will pass on the phone number. Technology is amazing. It is a local L.A. number, so for those of you with free weekend minutes you can call us 100% gratis! And it´s only $10 a month on our side for unlimited calls!!

To celebrate the first day of Spring we were invited to have lunch with a group of expats who live here in Uruguay. A fantastic group of people! We are happy to meet more people who are enjoying Uruguay as much as we are. Most have blogs about living here in Montevideo, and of course their information and experiences have been helpful to us. You can check out their links from our website.

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