Time flies!

We started off this week well by going to an asado on Sunday with one of our mentors, Silvana, who works at the school I was originally supposed to go to, and also attends the teacher's college where we work. We went to her parent's house, where she of course grew up, and she now lives down the street, so they are always very close. The food was delicious, and they were kind enough to cook up some chicken for me instead of the red meat, and we enjoyed spending some time with her parents, boyfriend, brothers, and variety of pets. She is also going to be attending Susquehanna University next year on a Fulbright teacher exchange herself, so we tried to assuage some of her worries about coming to the U.S.

This week at the teacher's college we continued planning lessons and talking points around their course units, including one really interesting discussion about health, where we learned that the best way to buy produce here is at the local open-air market, which we had only been to once before. So, after going for what will hopefully be the LAST time (for a while anyway) to our government internet provider to clear up some things, we went over to the market and bought lots of fresh produce, including fish! I tried to include some pictures of our culinary adventures, but my computer doesn't seem to want to let me, but all my up to date photos are on flickr, www.flickr.com/photos/allisonbloom ... including a meal of lemon/garlic merluzza with garlic spinach and sweet potatoes, as well as some home-made empanadas with tomato, basil, and mozzarella and then some tuna and parmesan ones. Quite tasty, if I do say so myself!

Then at the elementary school we spent the whole week with the younger students, splitting the time with their regular teacher, Carolina. We both assisted with her lessons and then taught a few of our own. My favorite was the one we did using the 'Five Little Ducks' song with the second graders, where we started off doing some animal noises/animal recognition with photos, then worked with some of the concepts of the song (near/far, etc.), acted it out, then taught the song so we could all sing it together. Pretty fun/adorable.

Then unfortunately at the end of this week Elizabeth got sick, probably strep throat, so one of our mentors took her to the doctor, and she's been taking antibiotics and resting and will hopefully be back in top shape soon.

In other news... I rode a 'moto' for the first time! Yes, I wore a helmet, and it was pretty fun. I've also started getting into 'Glee,' though it takes a lifetime for my modem to download anything. I was supposed to also go shadow a social worker this week, the one I met last weekend, but that fell through. Hopefully it'll happen next week. Next week, one of our mentors also set up a meeting for me with a woman who volunteers on a local task force surrounding the movement to fight domestic violence, so that should be really interesting. Today is a holiday, the Uruguayan Labor Day, so most things are closed, but tomorrow, we are going to try to meet up at some thermal baths about an hour away with the other Fulbright kids in Salto, and then we will get a chance to catch up on everything, and to make some plans for the coming weeks, including for when my brother comes in about a week and a half! Hard to believe how time is flying!