Spotlight on: Mayonesa

Uruguayan people have an ongoing love affair with mayonnaise. It is almost literally their bread AND butter--and I say almost because they do in fact spread mayonnaise on bread, but I'm not entirely convinced they would even do that if there were a way to make mayonnaise-based bread products. It goes on everything here, from the normal fair (hamburgers, potato salad, etc.) to the truly odd (fruit, potato chips, cookies, corn-on-the-cob). When you eat out at a restaurant, on the table are napkins, menus, silverware, mayonnaise, and (maybe) ketchup. It even has a song, and they know every word. More than sandwich lubricant, it is their number one condiment-dip-topping-drizzle-super-gel. It's excessive, and it's a problem in our relationship.

EDIT: I stand corrected. In fact, there is a way to make mayonnaise-based bread. I will not be introducing this concept to my friends.

"She's exaggerating," you say to yourself, "This is just comical fodder. She's writing a blog entry for its own sake and she has nothing else to talk about." No. I–pardon my English–shit you not, my friends. We (the girls on my program and I) had dinner with a group of our uruguayan friends last night, and we had an entirely-too-long conversation about the merits of mayonnaise followed by a game of let-the-americans-guess-what-you-CAN'T-eat-with-mayonesa. I think ice cream was the only thing I came up with. 

And now I offer you a series of photos of my friend Marcelo eating corn on the cob, con mayonesa, por supuesto. 

EDIT: To be fair, I haven't really tried it yet. If at some point in the coming months I eat mayo on potato chips/fruit/corn/eggs/etc. and love it, I will post a video of myself doing the mayonesa dance to compensate for the overtly caustic nature of this entry. 

Today on ómnibus: Saturday Night Fever

That's right. I spent quite a bit of time on the bus today and heard not one, not two, but THREE different songs from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Listening to Stayin' Alive while on the bus makes people watching infinitely more entertaining. Why? Because, well, you can tell by the way they use their walks...

And, by the way, I must be doing something right when I walk down the street because people have started regularly asking me for directions. AND I CAN GIVE THEM...sometimes, depending on whether I can understand what they're asking me and/or I actually know the answer. I can tell by the looks on their faces after I've spoken that they're not 100% confident I know what I'm talking about, but I'll take any sign of progress I can get.

More tourist photos to come, as well as posts featuring my internship with "El Abrojo" and some unfortunate uruguayan branding efforts. Also, Peñarol game this Friday; I am stoked to say the least. 

Martín Fierro!

Why on earth am I so excited about Martín Fierro? Because it's the best thing ever. And because an entire country has claimed one of my favorite odd food combinations as a national dessert. Is it possible to develop a crush on a country? Because if so I am officially enamored. There are many reasons, of course, but this one little thing puts the cherry on top (or, in this case, the dulce de membrillo).

For those of you who need a little more context, I like to eat fruit preserves on pretty much anything (crackers, hot dogs, pizza....) Yep, it's weird. One of my favorite snacks is strawberry preserves on slices of cheese, and I have always been made fun of for it. Dulce de membrillo isn't exactly the same, but the taste is similar (i.e., sooooooo gooood). I had it for dessert tonight--and not one eyebrow was raised.

This post goes to all the haters out there. :p

Mis asignaturas.

Day 2 of classes at Católica is done, and I can already tell I'm going to have difficulties narrowing my selections down to three. Here are the classes I'm trying out this week, if you care to know:

• Evaluación de los Aprendizajes (Evaluation of Learning)
• Educación Psicomotriz (Psychomotor Education)
• Pedagogía Familiar (Family Pedagogy)
• Psicología Educacional (Educational Psychology)
• Entrevista Clínica (Clinical Interview)
• Psicología de la Religión (Yadda Yadda Cognates)

Aside from three courses of those listed above, I will be taking a Spanish class through my program and (hopefully) completing an internship in the city. My interview is on Friday at 2.00pm--that's 1pm EST, I believe, with daylight savings in effect. Wish me luck :D

And here are some pictures I took on the sly while I was wandering around between classes today.

Left: Hanging out next to the lego wall and reading Freakonomics (en español, por supuesto).

Right: Photographic evidence that the entrance to the psych suite at Midd needs a serious overhaul. 

El día internacional del turista.

When I'm walking down the street in Montevideo, I stick out. Mostly it's because of my appearance (i.e. super fair skin and freckles) and my accent, but I can pass as somebody who's been here for more than a week if I hold my head up and stay away from words like "Colorado," "madre," and, sadly enough, "Angela" (a bit tough to avoid, that one). Unfortunately, all progress toward blending in is lost as soon as I pull out my camera or my city map. 

Thus, I am faced with the study abroad student's dilemma. The truth is that I want to take pictures of everything, but it's difficult to do so discretely. It is my opinion that you lose a certain amount of legitimacy as a student seeking immersion when you behave like a tourist (if you like, we can discuss later to what degree, if at all, this it true). 

In a very round about way, I'm trying to explain to you why I've henceforth declared each Friday to be "el día internacional del turista." I'm quite pleased with this solution: one day each week reserved for behaving like a tourist--I get to take as many pictures as I want and have as many unnecessary misunderstandings with clerks and taxi drivers as there are hours in the day. Ahoy!

SO, here are some of the photos I took for the inaugural Día del Turista. Click to enlarge. Enjoy!!

180 panorama of a park a few blocks away from the Facultad de Humanidades para República.

Left: Motorcycles ("motos") are super common here. With so few parking spaces, it's not hard to understand why.
Right: A glimpse of the entrance hall at the Facultad de Humanidades, complete with a welcome board for new students.

Left: A bit of graffiti near my host family's house. "La Blanqueada" is the name of the barrio (neighborhood) where they live.

Right: My host family's house from the outside. :D More pictures of them will appear in the future, I'm sure.

Left: A football/handball stadium on the beach ("Playa Pocitos," specifically) where Mary, Lily, and I took a walk before our tango lesson. Yes, it was cliche and yes I loved every minute of it.

Right: Mary en la playa. This is the view from the opposite side of the 360 panorama I took the other day.

We ate at a small pizzeria called "The Princess" after the tango lesson. There hints of Italian influence everywhere in Uruguayan culture, perhaps most noticeably in the food. Pizza + Patricia + gelato-esque ice cream after dinner = lo mejor. 

Thank you for your patience. These were both marathon posts and I'm sure they weren't made any better by my choppy English. Oddly enough, my English has suffered at the hands of my Spanish; a David-and-Goliath-esque struggle, I imagine.