I´m a bit rushed at the moment but I am going to use the time I do have to get everyone a quick update on my life. Where shall I begin? A lot has happened since I have blogged last. I went to a crazy soccer game. Nacional of Uruguay beat River Plate from Argentine 3-0, a very big upset. I went, sat with the fans(amidst smoke, fireworks, and flares), and cheered the team to victory. It was really cool and I paid about 4 bucks for my ticket. Crazy.

More recently, we had a very exciting soccer game of our own. Club Universidad Catolica, my team, is in the "tournament of champions". The top teams from each division(top 4 from the good divisions I believe and then just the champions of the lower ones, it goes from A-F or so) play a big pre season tournament. We found ourselves in the semi-finals. After a very exciting game with a lot of close calls the final score was 1-1. Penalty kicks. Our first kicker misses...damnit. We go shot for shot with the next three kickers. Their fourth kicker hits the crossbar. We make ours, they have to make their final kick to stay alive. The cheeky monkey goes down the middle, our keeper gets a hand to it but is off balance and can´t keep it out of the goal. Our sixth kicker makes it, and our goalie stops their shot. The fans go wild, the players go wild, there is jumping, chanting, fireworks, you name it. Sooo, as a result we´re headed to play in Parque Central, Nacional(see above)´s stadium Sunday in the final. I´m still not playing, as I´ve just come back in the tail end of pre season, and if you remember I´m not an under twenty now. I hope to break in the squad as soon as possible though if I keep playing hard. Training tonight, a much less important game Saturday(should play in that one while the A squad rests), it´s gonna be good. Sunday will be crazy if we win, after the semi final victory we all went to a bar until 5 AM, with the fireworks and all. The best part is the ex players and guys that had come out to support us picked up the 4000 peso (200 dollar) bill.

I went to the beach last week, Cabo Polonio. It´s a really cool place with no running water or electricity and a year round population of 80-the vast majority of which sport dreadlocks. It´s basically Bonnarroo but with less music and more beach. Good times. Good times.

Saturday after the game I´m heading to a friends house in the interior of the country to have an asado(cook out) and watch Uruguay-Paraguay before coming back early Sunday morning for the big game.

That´s my life for now, I just bought tickets to head down to El Perito Moreno glacier and then Torres del Paine national park in Chile. It´s going to be an amazing, although cold and wet, 11 days of looking at glaciers and hiking through mountains.

Only in Uruguay

Things are going really well here. I'm working on my tan, orientation was good, etc. I was sitting at the school talking to some of the new students the other days and sports came up. They asked me some questions about what one must do to acquire a physical, and I shared the following story with them. I don't think I ever shared this story on the blog last semester when it happened, so I figured I would put it up now so you all can have a laugh at my expense:

It starts innocently enough, I need to acquire a physical before I play soccer down here. Physicals are not generally my favorite thing (cough....cough again...turn your head..cough), but that's life. I'm sitting at the kitchen table as my house mother talks on the phone, getting the details as my Spanish is still a bit shaky. She sits down at the table and lays out everything I need to bring. I.D., urine sample, money....wait, rewind that...urine sample?!?

I'm thinking that she misheard something, but when she pulls out a little mason jar for me a few hours before my phyiscal the next day I realize this is the real deal. This must be the Major League Baseball drug testing system. I've always been fond of the honor system, but not when it requires me to transport my own urine in a backpack.

I do my business, bottle it up as tightly as I can, and walk on egg shells to the stadium where my physical is. I might as well have been carrying a block of highly reactive plutonium in my back pack.

After making the 15 minute walk in 30 I go into the place. I'm carefully laying down my backpack in every room I have to go through. I get into the last room and by now I'm thinking my house mother must have messed up. Then the woman asks for my "sample." Now take a minute to put yourself in my shoes. This becomes a sticky situation, I don't want to pull out my trump card just yet, sample could mean any number of things. "Sample?"
"Yes, your urine sample"
I eye my back pack nervously, did I hear that right....
"urine sample, pee, piss..."
ahhh, 'pichi'-I recognize that word, thanks Gustavo. So I pull the thing out, hand it to her, and much to my dismay she places it in a box. How I had missed the box I don't know, but there it is right on the shelf. A big cardboard box full of urine samples, all in their own distinct, home-brought, containers. Bizarre, but oddly relieving.

So that's my story for now, I was hoping to be able to write about a big, free music festival a few hours away in one of the vacation cities but it didn't work out with registrations for classes still, bad weather today, and whatever.

Classes start Monday, I've got an idea of what I want to take but haven't signed up for anything yet...

Flight

I'm just writing very quickly here to let everyone know that I got in safely. I also wanted to take a moment to give a shout out to Chileans, because they know how to travel in style.

The flight from Miami to Santiago, with the exception of my first flight, has always been incredibly easy. These guys don't play around. In contrast to my cross-Atlantic flights, which usually leave me contemplating my life, I snuggled up in my window seat and passed an easy 9 hours.

So take note American Airlines, British Airways, or the other highwaymen that ferry passengers to far away lands under conditions that rival "The Middle Passage". Here are a few things I would like to see incorporated into other airlines:

1)Personal Televisions: This is HUGE. Let's face it, it's not hard to spend hours on end in front of the T.V. Now give me my own little T.V. in my seat, complete with over 150 movies and television programs? SIGN ME UP. The fact that I was able to knock out an episode of Two and a Half Men(the most popular comedy in Latin America. For good reason may I add, Charlie Sheen is a genius, but I digress..), The Office, Garden State, and part of Terminators made me a care a whole lot less about the funny smelling elderly woman that kept passing out next to me.

2)Attractive Staff: This is simple, so why aren't we doing it? Flight Attendants were supposed to be good looking in the old days, I've seen Blow, and thankfully this tradition still stands strong in Chilean culture. I would peg LAN airlines at about a 75% attractive rate, which is hard to beat. While maybe not worth flying LAN on it's own, it's a damn good tie breaker.

3)Food: Not only did I get a surprisingly edible hot dinner, I also got a hot breakfast! I don't know about you, but I want to start my day with an omelette, and I want that omelette to have a little bit of ham in it. Apparently I'm not alone in this, and it's been recognized by the fine folks in Chile. Would you like a little free wine with your dinner? I'm telling you that these people are absurd. Free? I don't know whether to hug you or to show you how much money you could make by marking these things up to exorbitant prices. Then, when you finish dinner guess what happens? Another glass of wine?!? Free? This one too? Yes. Well then yes please.

4)Blankets: You know airline blankets? The little, hand towel sized maroon things? I don't know what to do with that, do I use it to blow my nose or to cover up? Look, I'm a tall drink of water and expect a little more from my sleep gear. Luckily, LAN, keeps it real for me. Nevermind the fact the average Chilean could curl up and go to sleep in my pocket. Chileans appreciate the plight of the big man and provide airline blankets that rival the "Snuggie", which has arguably the highest snuggle quotients known to man(it's even got sleeves! But I digress..), which makes sleep all the easier when your knees are pressed against your chest.

Initial thoughts upon arrival in Montevideo: I'm glad to be back. I knew I was going to be happy to see my family again, and just to be back down, but it feels way homier than I expected-which is a good thing. The weather is beautiful and Laura quickly got me caught up on all the going-ons of the summer. I'm off for now, I'll be trying to catch a few rays down at the beach,

RJ

I'm Baack

Just when I thought I was out, I'm pulled back in. I already feel myself being sucked back into the world of blogging, and to another life on another continent. A crazy, blog-worthy, vacation has come to an end; and as I sit in Miami International Airport typing this I find myself excited to arrive back in my 2nd(or 3rd...or 4th?) home: Montevideo.

I am enjoying my last few moments of America the best I can, having just finished a bacon blue cheese cheeseburger. There are few better parting meals for a red-blooded American male as far as I'm concerned. That said, I can't wait to get out. The crucible that is being trapped for hours on end between the technicolored, beatles muzak pumping walls that comprise Miami Int'l is something that defies words and must be experienced to be understood.

As I sit here typing, I can't help but think about how different, and yet the same, everything feels.

The last time I passed through I was homebound; leaving Uruguay, my brain was running in Spanish. Wreathes were hanging from every available surface in a feeble attempt to rebuke the palm trees and Miami beach vibe that is deadly towards cultivating Christmas cheer.

The first time I was here seems even more foreign. I find it impossible to believe that it was only July-almost August. The confidence that I now hold in myself as an individual, traveller, and spanish speaker has changed my entire perception of the world and my place in it. It seems years ago that I was waiting nervously in the international terminal, nervous about my new family, finding soccer, my spanish.

I now know exactly what to expect upon arrival in Montevideo, a fact that I find comforting and relieving if not slightly boring. The prospect of hiking through Torres del Paine and the thoughts of family and friends fresh on my mind keep my wanderlust satiated for the moment.

Only 8 hours removed from home I don't have much to write about yet, but keep your eyes peeled. More awaits on the horizon. I expect a trip to the beach soon after arriving in South America, the soccer team is entrenched in pre-season, and orientation is 36 hours away. Flight leaves in 5 minutes and I can't wait to climb aboard that massive plane sitting outside our window...chances for my own personal T.V. are high,

Hasta la vista...I'll BE BACK.