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Hola! Here's a picture of me on the beach a few nights ago. That's the city in the background and a scarf I bought at an outdoor market.

I've taken the buses (called omnibus) here several times by myself...and managed to get off at the right stops! You have no idea how big of an accomplishment this is! They are usually tight w/ ppl standing up all the time. I started up a conversation with this older lady by offering her my seat, she refusing it, but the one next to me opened up and she sat down and we chatted for awhile. I know my Spanish is getting better when I can understand strangers with more ease and dont have to ask them constantly "Que?". So last night I was going to someone's house by the omnibus at night, got off at the right stop, but it was dark and dimly lit so I started walking to look for the street I needed (Mom, Dad, don't worry!). So this other guy who got off at the same stop appeared lost and came up to me and started speaking very fast asking me if I knew where some street was he was looking for. I stopped him mid-sentence and told him I was lost too. Okay, once again, dont worry, if I had any reason to be scared, I would've used my better judgment and not have revealed this fact. This situation was just hilarious though! He looked at me blankly and asked if I was serious, I said yes, and we both started laughing. We went to go read the street sign together and I actually was able to somewhat point him in the right direction. After an "hasta luego" between bursts of laughter, I made it to my destination about a minute later. Que bueno! It's a little bit of relief for me to know that there are Uruguayans who sometimes get lost and need to ask for directions as well...I'm not alone!

This is a picture of the yerba mate that we drink all the time. I'll be bringing some back to the States!

I'm using the internet in the mall right now and some guy is eating McDonalds at a table near mine. I find it so amusing that there are McDonalds in other countries! I'll have to try something from there later to see if it's the same...

So I've been doing a lot of thinking and talking since my last entry. I've been talking about poverty with a lot of people. For starters, I found out that the "trash dump" is actually an accumulation of all the stuff that the ppl who live there have "rescued" from trash bins around the city. It's things they can maybe salvage. So it's not like they had no where else to go so they just camped out in some trash. So after talking to some people, I've started to ask the question "Who am I to tell them that they need to get out of those conditions?" A lot of people who live like that are happy that way. They won't go to shelters or send their kids to school bc the kids make good money juggling on street corners. And so if the basic necessities, who am I to tell them that they should live differently? Karen told me that this mentality of needing to go in and change ways of life even "to help people" is such a typical Christian American mentality. But once again, I ask if it's so bad to try to get people into decent houses (by decent i mean one with a roof and 4 sides), get their kids educated, and at least sufficient medical care. Just their basic, basic needs. If they don't want it though, then I'd say that it shouldn't be forced. That sounds obvious, but I mean, for example, here in Montevideo the gov't built a big housing place for people in slums, and when they got there, they didnt know any better and some ppl took out their sink and oven to sell it and instead built a fire on the floor to cook over. So there I see the need for better education on basic stuff like how to live w/ those kind of things, but also, the govt cant do everything (even though they're socialists here) and we cant expect that they will provide for all the people's needs. (Feel free to argue this one) So this is just a demonstration of one culture trying to help another that is so different and can't adjust. Food is ready and waiting for me at home so I'm gonna go, but I'll try to draw some conclusion later (or at least admit that I don't have one), and I'm sorry if this didn't make sense.