At first I had wanted to explore la Ciudad Vieja at downtown Montevideo, but it started raining last night and would not stop. I wanted to visit the famed parilladas and have lunch there; tomorrow won't work because it has the same forecast, and it is doubtful that it is going to stop raining. As such, I spent the entire day and night working on my Uruguayan Spanish, gradually changing my Mexican accent and grammar, by playing with the kids. They are like the little brother and sister that I never had. Even when I go into my room to start to do some work, I can expect a silent knock 5 minutes after I close the door with an invitation to play. Too bad I don't understand them half the time - but that's the good thing about learning Spanish from little kids. They don't necessarily expect an intelligent response when they ask a question, and most of their comments can be passed by with a well-timed "Si" and a nod. But I find myself using more and more Spanish with them as the night went on. It is actually very mentally taxing to accompany these energetic kids who love to talk, but they're hard to say no to, especially when they say "me divierte cuando jugás conmigo".
Random story. I was playing Clue with Santi and a lot of the words for the Rooms they keep as the English original (i.e. the game is in Spanish, but some rooms like Living Room, they call it el Living). So, we were playing and on one turn he said "Señora Pavorreal con el Cuchijo en el Haj". I understood everything except for Haj and so I looked for where he was at. Turns out he was at the Hall. In Uruguayan Spanish the double LL makes a J sound. So to him, it was only natural to call it the Haj. Random.
As of now, it has been raining a complete 24 hours, and still going at it. My mentor comes back from Piriápolis tomorrow so I don't know if there is anything planned. Either way, gotta get work done and figure out my money situation... I hope it stops raining soon...
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