chao para ahora.

I'm taking a break from the computer for a day or two. With my job it just consumes some time and its time for a break.
chao. te hablas mas tarde.

Fuemos al asado a noche.

(our awesome casa)

OK so I'm having a battle with my computer and the internet here. I was ready this morning to update but uploading pictures seems to be brain surgery. It takes forever then I have class for three hours and don't have time to fix it and here I'm at my days end and the post has yet to be finished. Its fine for now though I will just continue on with todays happenings. Luckily there are no pictures to upload for today (yet) and I can just write and leave the other pictures from last night to load. I would prefer to update in the morning here so that by the time you rise it will be a new post for a new day, but no such luck. I could just post without the pictures but then you might be bored. It was an eventful monday. I got up and attempted to post (obviously to no avail since here I am) but right after lab and spanish was lunch and a short break until our Latin America class at 3. Today however was no ordinary day in the life of Latin American learning for today we had a Candombe workshop. Candombe is a dance with African roots that is specific to Uruguay. Regardless of how silly we all looked, we had fun... and we all looked silly I'm sure. Right after class I went with Kara and Stefanie L and Shelly and Nathan Sanders to the mega YMCA. We were on a mission to find the rock climbing room. We found it, full of elementary schoolers. It was intimidating at first to walk into a room of u-15ers that are showing you up but we figured out (thanks to the instructor Pablo, who speaks English) that from 6-7 was the class for them and ours would start at 7. It was slow but eventually we went through the harness, belaying etc etc and started climbing. After a bit Pablo said it was time for crunches so we unharnessed and joined the group of guys (who had been monkeying around the walls (and around us) without harnesses) on the floor for a killer workout. It was lots of fun and another opportunity to make some friends. By the end there was the satisfactory feeling of having accomplished something and even better the feeling of belonging because Pablo gave the whole group a speech about how we are a team and we will be learning Spanish and climbing from them but we will be teaching them English and other things (I haven't thought of anything else I could teach them yet) as well. Now I'm going to try to find some leftovers... that is if our pirana housemates haven't devoured it all.
(end of new post)

FUEMOS AL ASADO A NOCHE! BARBEQUE TIME!

Nathan, Wimon and the chefs


(post from earlier.)
Buen dia. Hope the day finds you well. Last night we had a Uruguayan asado (bar-be-q) on the roof of our house and the adjoining church. I can't speak for everyone but I can speak for myself (and I'm going to speak for Kara) when I say that it was a fenomenal night. We gathered on the fourth floor patio and past the time by taking pictures & enjoying the company and the view. A few members of the church and Nestor the man who runs the church and lives on the third floor and his family grilled the meat with the help of the boys of the youth group. Eventually the meal was ready and we gathered one level lower at the tables prepared for us. After dinner we took the elevator up to the roof of the entire building for a bilingual devotional. It was finally dark but the clouds reflected the lights of the city enough to illuminate the faces across the circle and with the first much needed breeze we had felt all day we sang and listened as a group made mostly of teenage boys and their little sister sang, slightly off key, but without concern for anything but the words. Kara and I concurred as we sat there that in our time here we have been no happier than the times that we have spent with this group. I'll say this with the risk of sounding inappropriate but we are both in love with those teenaged boys. (we would be in love with the teenaged girls too if there were any. OK?) With the exception of Martin the oldest boy's girlfriend Andrea these boys are the only teens from the church, at least that we've been with.

anyway, it was fun. thats about it. Next weekend they invited us all to walk the rambla and watch a movie with them. I'm sure it will be fun. We utilize and learn our spanish best with them as well.



Mathias is my sweet little friend. After he burned his hand Rosalinda designated me his "nagger" because he apparently requires extra nagging. It might've had something to do with the way he followed me around and constantly ran his mouth in Spanish that was way too fast... even after I (repeatedly) said "MATHIAS. mas dispacio, PORFAVOR."

Rosalinda- nagging. :)



My "Holland face"







GUNS N' ROSES... YEAH!

Last night was curry night at casa ACU. awesome- thats all i need to say about that.

Somehow over dinner conversations my new found Reflexology/Acupressure practices came up... one thing led to another and Zanessa ended up doing muscle testing (I personally call it a healthy energy test) to all the non-believers while I yelled obscenities at anyone who tried to argue its validity. That's a joke, but I did get really excited cause I'm a firm believer in natural medicine. The test determines what things (specifically foods) are good for you or that your body needs. On this video we filled two cups with water and in one cup put some sugar (which isn't good for you) and did the test... I can happily say Rosalinda is now a believer. :D all in all, besides the injuries acquired during the fist fight over herbs or tylenol it was a really fun night. Tonight we're having un asado (barbeque) tonight with the kids from church.


healthy energy test from jessalyn massingill on Vimeo.


check back for more later.

don't forsake me, mi ventilador dulce.

My hands always feel dirty here. My only conclusion is the constant muggy state of the air makes me feel like I have to wash it off of them just because... as if it were tepid sludge or floating dirt... but not air. As soon as I wash it off and my hands dry the feeling creeps back. Usually I keep the washing to a minimum to keep a healthy set of harmless germs running through my body. It creates a strong immune system and more importantly makes life in dirty places easier and keeps me lower maintenance. There are more important things to worry about than dirt, but here... my hands always feel dirty.
There's never a thin enough shirt or light enough skirt to satisfy my skins need for cooler temperatures. While I walk or sit in our room or in the courtyard sweat collects under my shirt and my pants stick to my legs... I could probably bare it all and the night would still suffocate. It's not hot here, just heavy.

Our internet is slow and makes our job here harder. We joke about this savage third world country (global south country- to be politically correct, ironically) and it's God forsaken internet. We joke because its the only thing to keep us from going crazy. I refuse to let it contain me to a sedentary lifestyle but I'm getting tired my dependancy.

nothing really happened today, thats why you get to hear my sweet nothings.

Ah, shucks.

Thank you mommy and daddy for my new lens. It made my already wonderful life even more so... and it helps me take better pictures.

hmm.... voy a la playa o voy a la feria?

I promised pictures and I'm here to deliver on that promise.



es muy bonita, no?




acostarse a la playa. laying on the beach


en la agua a la playa circa la casa. in the water at the beach near the house


la patio a la casa ACU (courtyard)


Morgan and Stefanie on the beach.

for more photos --> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004131&l=8f134&id=1513920039

Wednesdays are really good days for me. I have an hour spanish lab in the morning and then nothing... the entire rest of the day. Wait, no that's not true. I have to be around at 12:30 to eat the lunch that Raquel has prepared for me... silly me, where is my head today?
It puts me in a pickle though. With so much free time and so many things to do how will I ever decide whether I want to go to the beach or to go shopping... or to read in the courtyard or to go on a walk to the Ciudad Vieja (old town)... or to take pictures.. or to... you see? the list is endless.

I do plan to go to the Mega-YMCA a few blocks down and get a membership. Its huge and has an assortment of activities besides your regular gym which include but are not limited to a rock climbing wall, pool, classes, its like an extra spanish class since they only speak spanish. Also this YMCA is building what is supposed to be the biggest Rock climbing wall in the world down by one of the beaches and we are invited to help build it. We're making history here. It's even going in the Guinness book of World Records. and what's great is we have to have service hours while we're here and what could be better to do than that? Well I could think of a few things... like eradicate poverty from Montevideo but I'm an American student, not a Saint.

huwhenas ias.

Buenos dias.... or to phonetically spell it the way Uruguayans say it- Huwhenasias. It's a spanish teachers nightmare.

I figure those of you back home are probably feeling like you've heard from me but you've still got no idea what's going on down here at this place, so to cause no further calamity and to set your mind at ease I will say that I am just LOVIN' this place. You can take comfort in that. I'm not crying myself to sleep at night... except for when I miss my mommy ;) ehhhemm. cough cough. Love you mom.
Do I love it more than Oxford? It's too soon to say.

-No it's not too soon, I don't, but rather with almost equal spirits to the way I love Oxford... but in a different way, and differently... and it hasn't earned its love yet. It's a new love.

I'm not cheating on you Oxford...

Also, I feel like I should tell you that it wasn't AS warm today... and really it's ALMOST cold now that it's dark. So, don't be bitter that you were freezing your tush off when you got into your car yesterday morning, I was already getting a tan and sweating... in a swimsuit... on the beach... and it made me thirsty... so I got a botella de agua at a cantina by the beach and sat under an umbrella...
And anyway today it wasn't sunny the WHOLE time I was at the beach... I would even go so far as to say it sometimes showed symptoms of being overcast.

How could I not love it here? It's warm, sunny, and I haven't started classes yet. But you never know, tomorrow is a new day.
BUT UP TO TODAY Uruguay has been a pleasant mix of Italy, Spain, Morocco and the occasional reminder of Zambia. I'll quickly detail this in a short paragraph and then try to catch you up on some of the highlights of the weekend. That way Monday I can start afresh and be up to realtime.
My first impression at the airport reminded me very much of the day we stepped off of the plane in Marrakesh, Morocco. It smelled wonderful and gave the impression of a small country's airport. It was slightly warmer than Morocco but it was a big difference from walking out of Heathrow into the world. In town the area around our house is very similar to the feeling of where we lived in Scandicci outside of Florence and riding the bus through town is like a time warp because it feels exactly the same. Downtown, closer to the beach and the Ciudad Veija (old town) it looks just like Spain.
So there you have a summary of my feelings about the relation of Uruguay to the world. Congrats. Oh and sometimes at the casa when you're not in the courtyard (because that smells like Essouria, Morocco) it smells like Zambia.

Today we went to church and out of all the wonderful things we have experienced thus far, even the beach, it was the most rewarding and it was definitely my favorite. I hope to talk more about this later but I just reviewed my post and the length is getting a little out of hand. I especially can't wait to talk about the old man named Ruban. El es muy comico.

Pictures later.

chao for now.
jess

the word of the day (for tomorrow.)

click on the link to watch Kara and I talk about la palabra de dia (por manana)


Untitled from jessalyn massingill on Vimeo.

Bienvenidos Uruguay!

Hola amigos!
Today I am tucked safely away in Montevideo Uruguay. My insufficient blogging might have left you out of the loop but yes, it is true, you can find me in Sud America until May.

Along with my already entertaining and thorough blog, Kara and I will be chronicling our trip as a part of ACU marketing. Check out our new joint blog- http://acuinlatinamerica.blogspot.com/.
Prepare to be amazed! It will be a few days before we get set up and settled into our new address in Montevideo and on the great world wide web. However, it should be up, running, and awesome within the week.

This blog will be maintained as a supplement to the new blog for all you out there who just can't get enough of good ol' me. :D
Enjoy the photos. I'll report back asap with better stories and more exciting narration as Kara and I once again unpack our bags and settle into our new home somewhere across the big blue.

chao! (that's the spanish spelling.)

jessa.

A sad departure.









The group.