Bienvenidos a Uruguay

Week 29--

Woo! Blog got a make-over!

I made it back to Uruguay today! It was a looong day and half of travel, but all's well that ends well! My suitcase was 5 kilos overweight when I first got to the airport, and after quickly stuffing clothes in my carry on and personal item... it was still overweight. And so was my carry on... Who knew carry ons had a weight limit?! I sure didn't. Luckily, the lady let me slide after I got it down to two kilos over. There was a line of people waiting behind me, and I'm pretty sure I was starting to break out in hives, but as I said before: all's well that ends well!

This blog will be pretty short, as I am pretty sleepy. This calls for numbers!

1. I finished up my last week of work at the Academia. I was sad to leave--I enjoyed my work, co-workers, and everything I was learning along the way. On my last day they gave me a bouquet of flowers. I am in the process of drying a few of them out. I hope it works!

2. My last week in Quito = my last week with my new friends. We had a scrumptious goodbye dinner at "American Deli" with McDonald's ice cream for dessert. Can you get more United States-ian than that?! (I've have become very self-conscious when people ask me my nationality. I have learned here that I can't say "American" becuase then I'll get the response, "Yeah... I'm American too." The problem is that in Spanish there is a word for an American from the United States: "Estadounidense." But in English I have to say, "I am from the U.S." It's not just one word. Anyways, that's my little sh-peel... So when I use United States-ian, you now know why.) Bottom line is: I MISS MY FRIENDS!

3. On Saturday morning, while eating breakfast and conversing with my Ecuadorian host-parents, we had a tremor! The ground started trembling, then the hanging plants all started swinging, and then my heart started beating really fast. We moved to another, sturdier part of the house, and the trembling continued. My host-dad told us we should go outside, BUT I DIDN'T HAVE SHOES ON! (It was really cold and rainy, otherwise I would've run out in my socks)... So I ran to get shoes, a jacket, and a blanket. Then it all stopped. It all happened so quickly, lasting a total of one minute, but yet I feel like so many thoughts were processing through my head and so many things happening at once. Later on that day, I went to the Basilica de la Vota Nacional. I got to climb really high into the towers. I tried to upload a picture... but for some reason it won't let me. But imagine this: me, climbing up a ladder, into the towers of a Basilica, with the city of Quito beneath me... HOURS after a tremor. I kept thinking, "If there is an earthquake, and I am on this ladder, I may not make it..." Also, please imagine how sweaty my hands were...

5. When I got in to Montevideo today, I had a lot of packages waiting for me which had arrived while I was gone. I got cards from some of my cousins (from Thanksgiving...), a Divine Mercy chaplet from my dad's friend, and a necklace from my Aunt Karen and her family from Christmas. I started crying when I opened the necklace: the state of Georgia, "so that it can always be close to my heart..." THANK YOU, EVERYBODY!

6. I think that's all for today! My eyelids are starting to feel like heavy bean bags...