Uruguay! Uruguay! Uruguay!

Yesterday I had a free day because my mentor was busy with talks he gave for the Semana de Ciencias. I decided to spend the day trying out my international credit card by buying some sandals and to hopefully find a place to exchange my mf travelers checks. I went to Portones Shopping, where I had went on the first day to exchange money, to see if I could find me any good and cheap pairs. With the language barrier, I spent probably 50% of my time being confused. Apparently the Mexican word for sandals is not the same as the Uruguyan word. I soon gave up this search once I realized that most of the stores only carry shoes for the winter... so I tried out my credit card buying a drink at la Tienda Inglesa... and I went to the beach.

The part of the beach that I went to was nice, but void of people as it is winter down here. It was mildly disappointing as the one time I am actually by the ocean, there was nothing to see other than the calmness of the ocean waves. Not as touristy as other Uruguayan beaches as I was told. I asked an old Uruguyan couple to take a picture of me in Spanish, and they immediately responded in English. Behind me is the historical Hotel Carrasco, which is currently being renovated. It was a pain trying to get back home because it was getting dark, and I honestly didn't know where I was (I knew to ask for Avenida Italia, that's it). I found a bunch of banks and exchanges and tried to exchange my travelers checks. This experience will remind me never to bring them anymore. They are almost inconvertible, if only at usurious rates.

At night, when I finally found my way, the family and I watched the finale of Lost (the only thing I remember thinking was que mierda fue). Afterwards my mentor had his buddies over to BBQ. In this group, I met El Comandante (alguien que parece como Che Guevarra), the Uruguayan Minister of Sanitation, and the CEO of a couple local companies. After a couple of drinks and smokes, it was clear that they were not used to seeing Asians. All Asians are affectionately called "chino", and it just so happens I am in fact Chinese. But once that culture shock for them went away, they talked about the usual things, screaming at each other while I tried to provide input while eating probably the best BBQ I ever had, all the way till 2 in the morning... too bad both my mentor and I had to wake up early the next day... o well, time to have my nightly chat with Raza.

Today, I woke up late since my alarm did not ring. But that is not too important because my mentor has been really busy with the graduating class of the University (he serves as the advisor for 2 other Uruguayan university students). All I did today was a completely-failed procedure on a fish. Being the second time I have ever even seen the fish, I know it will get easier with practice. I know now where to cut and where not to cut. I hope to receive all my research materials soon, and to actually make a good prep, and start the experiment soon.

But other than that, I explored the downtown area a little bit. Took secret photos where I'd look like I was doing something else, like crossing a street, with a camera in hand - that is how I got a picture of the horse wagon (which one sees everywhere on the streets). I also learned of the popular, yet somewhat un-PC word, mejicanear. Ojalá que nadie me mejicanee nunca.

Then came home, tired again realizing that I feel the most sick of using Spanish when I am tired and hungry, remedied that by eating Chop Suey that my mentor made, feeling good, watched the Uruguay vs Israel game that was going on at the Hipodromo, saw Uruguay kick ass 4 -1 (URUGUAY URUGUAY URUGUAY), to my surprise no fiesta riots here, and now here I am.