Mate and more

The first word in the title of this blog is pronounced mah-tay. It is a type of tea like drink that they drink a lot of in Uruguay (and Argentina) and it's great. The first awesome thing about it is that you drink it out of a gourd with a metal straw thing with a strainer on the end. The really cool thing about it is you drink it in groups a lot. We made friends with the youth from the church connected to CasaACU and we drink mate with them whenever we hang out. It has about as much caffeine in it as coffee but you end up drinking a lot more because you just keep adding hot water to the gourd and keep drinking without noticing how much you've had. It's been a very long time since I've actually truly felt the effects of caffeine because I have a severe addiction to it (see facebook note "Addiction") but mate keeps me up. It's awesome. Enough about my new addiction and on to what you're here for: adventures.

We went to church last Sunday which turned out to be more frustrating than anything else. Autumn (on of the professors) told me that the guy who was preaching that morning was the hardest man to understand. She wasn't lying. Considering the church used to be a coffee factory and the microphone was a bit scratchy, the sound quality was already not the best. I caught a few sentences but the majority of the time my brain got too tired and checked out. Hopefully the next preacher will be a little clearer.

Classes started this week...I had forgotten I was here for school. My classes aren't bad except for one. I'm taking Latin American thought through the Catholic University here in Montevideo and it is going to be the hardest class I have ever taken (and possibly ever will take). Our professor is German but he lives in Montevideo and speaks Spanish without any noticeable accent, except when he says some phrases in English then he sounds German. It's a very strange combination of languages and ethnicity that comes together in that room. The worst part about the class is that it's two hours every Tuesday and Thursday when it only counts as a 3-hour course. Basically I am in class an extra hour per week. My brain keeps trying to check out after an hour and a half so it's a constant struggle for that last 30 minutes to pay attention.

We haven't been out much this week because it's been raining like crazy. We did go down to the beach and played some friendly futbol with our church friends and drank mate (of course). On that trip I made a deal with Martin that I would only speak spanish to him and he would only speak english with me. That has been really great practice for me and for him. Spanish Conversation is a lot of fun too. My teacher, Amelia, reminds me of Senora Croft in some ways and she looks like Edna Mode from The Incredibles.

Well, I'll post more when I've had some adventures. Until next time, may God continue to bless you in ever changing ways that you may spread His love and glory.