Many apologies

I can come up with a bajillion excuses as to why I haven't updated this blog the entire month of March. I will start by apologizing.

The biggest news right now is that my parents are coming to visit in a week and a half! I am very excited for them to come see me and for them to get a taste of Uruguay. It is one thing to write blogs and tell people about my experience, but I feel like words do not do justice to everything that I am learning and seeing. For them to come will be a great experience for all of us... and I kind of miss them.


After 7 months out of the United States, I find myself with mixed emotions as the last 2 1/2 months fly by. It seems like everyday goes by faster than the day before.
The beginning of the school year marks the beginning of a new year in La Obra Ecumenica and a lot of excitement! There are many new faces in La Obra and new activities starting there. I am still working in the Study Center and the Children's Club. I enjoy recognizing faces from last year and seeing how La Obra functions in the begininning of the year with all of the planning. It was hard to understand how everything was run when I arrived in September, because they were in the last months of the schoolyear. Now, I can participate in the beginning of the year and have a better idea of all of the work and decisions made to prepare for the new year. One thing that I have really enjoyed is the field trips they take the kids on. They get the opportunity to see lots of Montevideo through La Obra and really see parts of the city they otherwise would not get to see. This March is dedicated to taking the kids to different parts of Montevideo. In April, activities like English, music, crafts, cooking, Italian (new this year with an Italian volunteer) will start.

I am amazed at how much I understand in the Spanish language now. I can finally feel a difference in my willingness to participate in conversations without fear of using incorrect grammar or being misunderstood. I recently went to the birthday party of my Spanish teacher whom I had not seen since mid-December and she and her husband were surprised at the difference in my Spanish.

The church Nuestro Salvador continues to prepare for its trip to Minnesota along with starting up all the regular activities for the new year. We have had a good group show up for Wednesday Bible studies on Ruth the past few weeks.

In other news, I started tango lessons last week. I go once a week for an hour and a half. Last week I proved to have two left feet. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.