Jon and Kelly Eat Steak (For a Year)

Anniversary Weekend at Iguazu Falls

2009-07-23T18:47:00.000-07:00

The Falls

Iguazu Falls is not just one big waterfall, it's many different waterfalls, each one unique and beautiful. We walked around the falls and took a boat below them that soaked us. Here are some of our favorite shots of the falls:

Wildlife

The wildlife in the national park surrounding the falls was amazing. We saw monkeys, racoon like animals called coatís, turtles, and all sorts of colorful birds and butterflies.

We celebrated in style by staying at the fancy Sheraton hotel that is inside the national park. This first picture was the view from our hotel room. Our anniversity weekend was the perfect combination of adventure and relaxation. It also marks the end of our travels in South America, at least for now. We're headed back to the U.S. next week.

Ski Trip to Las Leñas

2009-07-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

The honeymoon continues with our ski trip in Las Leñas. We chose the "panoramic view" seats on the overnight bus to Las Leñas, the upper level seats on a double decker bus that are right in the front so there is nothing between you and the road except for a big window. This made for some incredible views as we were leaving Buenos Aires, but was terrifying as we were passing huge trucks on a very narrow two lane highway in the middle of the night. Jon captured some of the highlights of the bus trip and the skiing on what I think is his best video production yet. Check out some of the beautiful Andean views and a clip of me falling down an avalanche chute. Don't worry, I'm okay:)

Las Leñas from Jon Christensen on Vimeo

P.S. Pictures from Iguazu Falls coming soon.

Visitors

2009-07-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

We're watching the sun set for the last time from our apartment in Montevideo tonight. Tomorrow we leave for three weeks in Argentina, and then we head home. It's hard to believe that our time here has come to an end. We will definitely be taking a bit of Uruguay with us in our hearts and it our stomachs (we've been eating all of our favorite Uruguayan treats this week.)

The last month has been a whirlwind of visitors, wrapping up my work, and packing everything up. Jon spent two weeks working in Argentina and arrived this week to pack up and head out. His sisters Kelly and Andi and our friend Elizabeth visited this month. We were so happy to be able to show them a little bit of what our life is like here.

Andi, Kelli, and Jon spend a few days in Buenos Aires. This picture was taken at a tango show they went to see.
Outside the Pink House, the Argentine version of the White House.

Ricoleta Cemetary: Creepy, beautiful, historic, and worth wandering through.

Palermo shopping with Jon's sisters.
Couch sitting: Andi, Kelly, and Kelli
Why is the bear making that gesture, and why is Jon?

As interesting as the building in the background looks, it's not to be found in the guidebooks. But the real story here is that the smiles that Kelly and Elizabeth are wearing were about to turn into tired, impatient, frowns. This boat was going to take us from Buenos Aires to Colonia in Uruguay. It did just that, but due to a violent wind storm, it was unable to dock in the Port of Colonia. So, we were informed that we were going back to Buenos Aires. Once back, we waited with a boatload (literal) of irate people demanding free lodging for the night. We've never seen so many people screaming. We ended up paying $25/ person to stay in a hotel that made Elizabeth have nightmares about bedbugs. Luckily, things calmed down the next day and we were able to make it back to Montevideo.

The calm before the storm -- Elizabeth and I basked in the sun in Punta del Este on our way to one of my presentations for work.

After another presentation, we ate at Panini's, one of our favorite restaurants.

Here we are eating again at Mercado del Puerto, a meatlover's dream come true.

Jon and I have been doing a lot of traveling on the Buquebus, the ferry that goes between Uruguay and Buenos Aires that you can see in the background, and tomorrow we get on it again to begin our next adventure. We're going skiing for a week in Las Leñas, then I go to a conference in Paraguay while Jon heads back to work in northern Argentina. We'll meet up just in time to go to Iguazu Falls for our anniversary. Then we'll spend one more week in Resistencia, Argentina where Jon will be finishing his work. And then........................
we'll be home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fellowship Coming to an End

2009-06-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Time is running out here in Uruguay. I only have two weeks left at work. We are going to be so sad to leave this place that has been our home for a year. I am also sad to be leaving my job and the great people I´ve worked with. This video was made by group of teachers I´ve been working as a good-bye gift.

Untitled from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

Sand, Water, and Weather

2009-05-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, a storm cloud floated in and I took this picture of it from the balcony. The cloud was so startling and unique that my mind went instantly into 'camera emergency mode'. I slid through the apartment in my socks frantically looking for a camera and knocked over at least one fragile item in my hurry. With luck, I found the camera and snapped a few photos just in time. Thirty seconds later, the cloud rolled in and we were immersed in a deep fog.

Click the picture to see a wide screen version. I love how it looks like a wave rolling onto the beach.

Traveling Through the Uruguayan Interior

2009-05-24T04:51:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months, I have been traveling to towns in what Uruguayans call the interior of the country. The interior is basically everything but Montevideo. Since over half of the Uruguayan population lives in Montevideo, the rest of the country is very rural. Each province contains a capital city, but other than that, what you see is mostly ranch land with the occasional farm. This short video gives you an idea of what the countryside looks like.

Driving through Uruguay's Interior from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

Last week I visited two different provinces to give presentations to groups of teachers. First, I visited Cerro Largo, a province in the northeast full of rice and cattle fields. Then I went to Rivera, a province in the north. The city of Rivera is shared with the Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento. This is the route I took on the bus.
The main plazas in the interior are always surrounded by a church, a police station, and a town hall. Many of them have a statue of Artigas, the Uruguayan national hero, like this plaza in Melo.

The police station in Melo is in a beautiful old building.
The church sits next to it. Nearby is the house where the famous Uruguayan poet Juana de Ibarbourou (Juana de América) grew up. Enrique Rodó, another famous Uruguayan writer, was also raised in this town.
I felt a little self concious taking pictures in this square because I don't think Melo gets many tourists. I stood out as a tall blonde girl in this town. As I was walking down the street one little girl grabbed her dad's hand and said "Papá, ¡Esta mujer es grande!" "Dad, that woman is tall!" Yep. Kids will say it like it is in any country.

During my visits I give presentations to groups of teachers and sometimes get to visit schools. Here is a school in Melo:

And another in Rivera:

I was talking to a teacher about thinking skills, which is why I have my hands to my head like that.
This is a marker between the city of Rivera and Brazil. These are all along the Brazilian-Uruguayan border.
In parts of the city, Brazil is on one side of the street and Uruguay is on the other. In this picture you can see the main street. On the left is Brazil and on the right is Uruguay. I crossed the street and bought some yummy Brazilian treats to take back to Jon. Because Rivera is a border town, there are duty free shops and many Brazilians take advantage of the strong Real to shop in Uruguay.The main plaza is also divided in two. This obelisk is in the center and you can see that both the Uruguayan and Brazilian flags are hung. In Rivera, people speak a dialect called Portuñol that is a combination of Spanish and Portuguese.
Traveling through Uruguay has been one of the best parts of my job this year. I love watching the countryside go by as I travel from place to place, and the teachers always make me feel welcome in their towns. The open space and fresh air of the interior is something I will always remember.

Graffiti: Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Floripa

2009-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

We have seen some good wall art in this part of the world. I don't know whether the best term is mural or graffiti, but it is painted pictures, outside, on a wall.

We have not sought any of the murals we have seen, and I'm sure if we went looking we could find many more great pieces of art. Every time we find one, though, I take a picture if I have my camera. Below are five of the best we've seen this year (click each one to see a bigger version!)

Montevideo, Uruguay:
The murals we see in Montevideo are usually brush painted rather than spray painted. They often show scenes of poverty.

We see this one every day. It's next to a 'project' neighborhood near our apartment. It depicts a common sight in Montevideo: a horse drawn cart for transporting recylceables.

We also see this one everyday. It shows a candombe troup staying warm by a bonfire.

Buenos Aires, Argentina:
We didn't begin to scratch the surface of street art in Buenos Aires. The urban jungle extends for miles in every direction and there must be some amazing gems tucked away on walls far from well warn tourist paths.

I love the subway stairwell in front of this transport themed mural in Buenos Aires

In the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. I spotted this on my second visit.

Florianapolis, Brazil:

Near a happening nightlife hub of Floripa. Like the place itself, this one has great colors.

No Electricity, No Water, No Problem

2009-05-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

One of the most interesting spots in Uruguay is Cabo Polonio. All Uruguayans, whether they have been there or not, will insist that it is a wonderful place. They're right. It is amazing. It is an isolated spot on the Uruguayan coast line that hosts a small year round community of artists (read "hippies") and fishermen. It is inaccessible by car and lacks water and electricity services.

Cabo Polonio also draws tourists in the summer as a great place to relax and truly get away from the hustle of life. Kelly and I went there last weekend to see what it was all about and we left agreeing that it is one of our favorite spots in Uruguay. It makes us wish there were still places like this in the United States.

Clikck on the picture below to see an enlarged version of the same view we saw when we arrived at the center of town. It is currently the off season, so most of these little shops are closed.

The cape has a working lighthouse. For about fifty cents you can buy the opportunity to climb it's stairs and cling to the precarious rail at the top in gale force winds. This is the view toward the small house we rented. If you look closely at the land as it continues around the bend, you can see that there are miles and miles of dunes and beach with nothing on them. It gave us a great feeling to be in a place this beautiful and yet without condos or fast food.

We spent most of our time on this beach. The sun is on it's way down, and it's not summer anymore, so we had to bundle up to stay outside.

The house we rented is right in the center of this photo slightly above the midline. It is partially obstructed by the ski boot shaped house. When we didn't have anything better to do, we just sat on a flat rock outside the house and watched the sea lions and the waves.

The next photo is the decorated part of the inside of the house we rented. We were certain that it was an old fisherman's house, but we were not certain of it's age. The rough concrete floor and walls have withstood the test of time unchanged.

Since there was no electricity or running water, we had to get water from two rain water tanks on either side of the house. Flushing the toilet was a simple matter of pouring a bucket of water down it... well sometimes two or three buckets followed by another trip to the well followed by another one or two buckets.

This picture is in here just because it's pretty.

We saw some fun animals at Cabo Polonio. Sea lions, a huge sea slug, a million fish, and all variety of farm animals. The sea lions were great, but they were not the most amusing. At one point I left Kelly for a second to take our bags "downtown" while she was returning the key to our rented house. I returned to find her absolutely surrounded by chickens. It seemed like all fifty had it out for her. They were edging closer with intent. Alas, I didn't have my camera available, but picture, if you will, about five dozen chickens in a horseshoe around Kelly who is backing slowly towards the nearest building as they take slow and confident steps to close the circle around her. Thankfully they realized they were no match for both of us and scattered upon my return.

Not Quite a Deep Sea Adventure

2009-04-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

Imagine deep sea fishing in the southern hemisphere and calling out "¡Dios mío!" while pulling in the largest fish you've ever seen in your life. Well, that was Jon's dream, but wasn't exactly what we got when we went out in the Lancha Alba in the Rio de la Plata. We headed down to the puertito de Buceo, a marina near our house with our friends Lisa and Gabriel to go out on the Lancha Alba for six hours of fishing.

Six hours sounded like a long time to me, not being much of a fisherwoman, but the weather was beautiful and I was happy to spend an afternoon under the sun with some friends. We really weren't sure what we were getting into on this journey. We had heard about the Lancha Alba by word of mouth and it was hard to tell whether this was an outing designed for the inexperienced tourist or the local fisherman. It turned out that it was for the local fisherman. As we scurried onto the boat five minutes late with our hands full of snacks, the men on the boat gave each other a knowing look. The looks continued to go around as Jon and Gabriel dashed off to buy some raw shrimp because we didn't realize this was a bring your own bait event.

Finally, they came back and we headed out for our afternoon of fishing. The men on the boat warmed up to us after a while. They even offered us a few pointers, but joked that it was going to cost us a "ten dolla" each time. Jon was the hard core fisherman among us. He fished for six straight hours. His hard work was rewarded by catching several roncadera or whitemouth croaker, who made a horrible frog-like sound as they flipped around in the buckets. Here he is with one of them:
We ended up taking this fish home and eating it for dinner. It was pretty tasty but a challenge to clean up the scales that found there way all over the kitchen.

We used fresh shrimp as bait, which was pretty effective, but also a little expensive. We laughed about how we were giving up fresh shrimp for a much cheaper fish. I was a little grossed out by how the fish made my hands smell, especially by the end of the day. The fishy smell was hard to get rid of and the next day we noticed that even our bottle of sunscreen and sunglasses smelled like fish. Yuck!

Here I am trying the shrimp on with some thread.
My hard work paid off because I caught a little fish too.

All in all it was a pretty fun day. It wasn't the deep sea adventure Jon had hoped for, but an interesting experience none the less. The weather was beautiful and it was very peaceful to watch the sunset from the water.

We stayed out until after dark. Jon took adventure of the nightime fishing conditions while the rest of us relaxed under the stars. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday in Montevideo.

Beaches, Butterflies, and Spiders

2009-04-11T12:07:00.000-07:00

It's spider season in Florianópolis Brazil. That's what our friend Tamara told us when we mentioned having seen several. Spiders in Brazil are worth noticing, too. The first one I ran into had a web so strong it literally stopped me in my tracks. I felt myself moving forward into it and then rebounding slowly back as I felt a mounting panic about what I might not have seen right in front of my face.

This one is only about as long as a typical door key

I mention the spiders because along with other alien bugs and venomous snakes, they create an underlying tension in an otherwise jungle paradise. People are always eager to talk about them and to share stories of people they know who have been bitten. Our friends Manuel and Tamara told us about a woman who was bitten by a Jararaca snake three days before her due date. Fortunately she and her baby were OK, but it serves as a cautionary tale against living too far off the beaten path on Santa Catarina island.

For the most part, Kelly and I did not stray far from the well worn path, but our time in Floripa felt distinctly different and new and fun.

The Island
Before we arrived, we had read that you can take a short boat trip to a nearby island called Campeche Island that has a nice snorkeling beach and some ancient art. We had brought our snorkel gear all the way from Colorado, and it had been collecting dust in the spare room. Finally, we had a chance to rationalize owning it. To get to the island, we went to a little stand on a Saturday morning that sells tickets for about twelve dollars each. By this point, we still hadn't mastered having conversations in half Portuguese and half Spanish, so we spent the entire boat ride wondering whether we would have three hours on the island or whether the boat would be returning at 3pm.

We departed from the port at Praia Armação near where we stayed. We loved how colorful the boats are.

He's not having as much fun as we were on the way to Ilha do Campeche

As soon as we got off the boat, it really struck us that we had landed in paradise.

A 5000 year old drawing. It is posited that these are two faces.

The snorkeling was only so so, and the ancient rock drawings were pretty crude, but the sunbathing was world class.

The Hike
A day or two after our Campeche outing, we decided to go for a serious hike. We had brought our trail running shoes and our lifetimes of living at altitude, so we were ready for anything. We had heard there is a deserted beach a three hour hike from where we were staying, so we decided to go for it. We knew the walk was over some rugged terrain along the coastline, and since the whole coastline was drenched in green, we knew it would be beautiful. Before we had time to get into the rhythm of hiking, we had already spotted a butterfly as big as your two hands, a spider big enough to eat that butterfly, and two unmarked forks in the trail. This was going to be a serious jungle hike.

I've noticed that the light is never good for pictures in the jungle. The trail is dead ahead...

To keep our minds of the idea of snakes, we became obsessed with trying to take pictures of the hundreds of butterflies.

A little blurry, but also nicely in motion.

This one is the best one we got.

We reached a ridge and found an amazing view with a grassy landscape. We were relieved to be out of the forest, and there couldn't have been a better reward for our efforts than this stunning view.

This empty beach is just on the other side of the far ridge in the photo above. Look in the middle of the photo below for the small lagoon for which it is named: Lagoinha do Leste. We couldn't believe our luck to show up there and be the only people on a mile long stretch of beach. We immediately jumped in the clear water and body surfed, then we laid around and sunbathed, and finally got our energy up to hike back through the jungle over the ridge behind the beach in the photo below.

Lagoinha do Leste

The beach stretches empty for almost a mile behind me.

Lagoinha do Leste from the other side. In the photo above I was standing next to the ridge in the distance. (Note the nice waves peeling in on the bottom right.)

Slippery footwork on the way out.

The Food
We ate well in Brazil. Some examples: A sequence of shrimp (8 different shrimp dishes) with the freshest shrimp you can imagine and a local fish stew. It made both of our top ten meals of all time. In the picture below we're having another top tener. This was a sequence of oysters. Fourteen oysters each, prepared fourteen different ways, and you can see the oyster farm in the background. Lets call that one a top fiver. We also had frozen açaí with banana and granola whenever we were hot. We had roasted coconut from a street vendor, and fresh sugar cane juice from another street vendor. And we also had lunch mostly at this 'by the kilo' buffet place that limited it's food to locally produced fruits, vegetables, baked goods and pastas.

You know you're becoming South American when you only button three buttons on your shirt.

The Lake
On our second to last day, we were getting a little worn out of the forest life, so we decided to head to Lagoa da Conceição where we could find some pavement and modern conveniences like coffee shops. We had heard, though, that it is fun to take a cheap boat ride for about an hour each way along the shore of the large lake to the far side where there are nice restaurants and a waterfall. What we found was probably the closest to a tourist trap that we experienced during our whole stay. The boat ride was pleasant and scenic, but the town we arrived at was nothing more than a stretch of ten restaurants and small houses containing more people than probably can or should live from the proceeds of these ten restaurants. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful spot. The water of the lake is startlingly transparent, and the colors of the small town were as lively as the children playing in its walkways.

Waterfall at Lagoa da Conceição

Vibrant colors in the town

The Waves
When we weren't hanging with our friends, eating, or having some other adventure, you could find us surfing. Kelly got in a couple of great sessions, and I got a few waves myself. Kelly took some pictures, and I must admit it is a real treat to have your picture taken while you're surfing.

Me taking a left at break at Matadeiro

Matadeiro where we surfed the most is the blue water down on the left of this photo.

The Room
My friend Manuel set us up with a place to stay within a short walk of his house. It was the perfect choice for us. Simple and clean, affordable, and beautiful. It was deep in the woods so it was green and lush all around. There was always something to watch because the three cats on the property were endlessly hunting. And the owner of the place is a fellow surfer that had some good stories and some good advice.

Falou! (means bye bye in Portuguese)

Falou!

Rainbows, Optical Illusions, and the Sea

2009-03-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Posting those pictures of the Uruguayan Fan Man on Saturday motivated me to post a couple more great photos we've taken from our balcony.

Click this one to see a bigger version. We noticed the sky was brighter just inside the rainbow than it was outside of it.

This next picture I took this morning. I looked out the window and I couldn't see where the sea ended and the sky began. No horizon.

A Guy Flying a Contraption Near our House

2009-03-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

These photos taken minutes ago from our balcony really speak for themselves. We thought this guy was going to kill himself. He had a puttering gasoline powered fan on his back providing his forward momentum.

Amazingly, he lived to do this again another day. Have a look...

Summer Camp

2009-03-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Camp!

Last week I got to go to camp -- again. It was another language immersion camp where my job was mainly to speak English. Jon came with me for part of the time and we had a great time at Campamento Artigas.

On the first day we got to know each other while playing some unusual instruments. Jon represented the Christensen family because he´s the only one with rhythm:)

The nightly bonfires sometimes lasted until 2 AM. I think all Uruguayans are night owls.

Here I am about to take off on the zip line. The smile is not very genuine. I was terrified.

Our cultural presentation about life in the snow was a big hit. It was refreshing to think about snow and cold from the heat of Colonia.

One difference between camps in Colorado and camps in Uruguay, in Uruguay camps are on the beach. This beach was on the Río de la Plata across from Buenos Aires.

Taking a moment to talk about Native American literature.

I was terrible at paintball, maybe because there were red ants inside my suit!

Performing a reader´s theater

We took a side trip to the beautiful colonial town of Colonia de Sacramento. Look how thick the original walls of the city were.

A parting shot with all the campers.

Coca Cola, Samba, and Summer

2009-03-02T02:49:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Kelly and I went to see Las Llamadas (pronounce the double 'l' like an 'sh' and you'll be pretty close). It is a Carnaval parade based on an old slave tradition of tribal communication through drumming. From what I'm told, since the slaves brought to Uruguay from Africa were unable to move around the city freely and communicate with others from their tribes, they drummed certain rhythms to indicate their presence and well being. Today a celebration of this tradition has become one of the centerpieces of the Uruguayan Carnaval. Drumming troupes and candombe dancers entertain ecstatic crowds down a narrow corridor in Montevideo's traditionally black neighborhood, Barrio Sur.

Kelly and I thoroughly enjoyed Las Llamadas. The performers were really having fun, and the narrow street gave the parade an intimate and participatory feeling. I took some video during the few hours that we spent there and created the little clip below. The song over the clip is also fun for me. It's a murga, a traditional song from carnaval that is on my favorite coca cola commercial. Uruguayans have embraced the song as their theme song for summer and Carnaval 2009.

Las Llamadas from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

Costumes, Dancing, and Drums

2009-02-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday as the rains quenched the thirst of the Uruguayan soil, the entire city of Montevideo got bummed out that the Carnaval parade would be postponed. Kelly's parents were particularly disappointed because it was rescheduled for the day after their planned departure. The local newspaper suggested that maybe Carnaval should have been scheduled sooner since it seemed to be the cause of the drought ending downpours.

Kelly's parents left on Saturday night, but that didn't stop Kelly and I from heading downtown on Sunday night to check out the parade. The bus schedules had been altered to move people efficiently in and out of the downtown area, so we payed our 14 pesos (about $0.70) and hopped on the bus for a perfect evening of sunshine and entertainment.

We were both absolutely blown away by how good the parade was. Kelly said that it wasn't as "BIG" as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade she had attended several years ago in New York, but that it was more intricate and personal and interesting not to mention warmer and more comfortable to watch. And as for me, I've never seen a parade that compares. People's costumes were fantastic, the crowd was completely engaged, the music was excellent and there was dancing in the streets. These are some of our better photos from the evening:

The Carnaval queens blowing kisses to get the party started.

Once the formalities were done, it was time to get the crowd involved.

These people are members of a Murga (a singing troup).
Sometimes the press was a little pushy.

Members of a Candombe troup that will also perform in
Las Llamadas this upcoming Thursday and Friday

Another Murga in a mock traditional Uruguayan restaurant on wheels.
Eat your heart out Burning Man.

Dancing in the streets!

Everybody's Dancing!

I think I saw a jacket like this that was Patagonia.

These might be my favorite costumes of the whole parade.

On the beach and on the streets, Uruguayans of all shapes and sizes strut.

She's the matron of a Samba group.

The people on this float were playing a life sized game of "whack an armadillo"

I could use some help for a caption for this one.

So that was the parade. This week Carnaval continues. Coming up this Thursday and Friday are Las Llamadas. Hopefully I'll be able to get some pictures or film of those events for the blog.

The Parents Come to Town

2009-01-31T16:22:00.000-08:00

We just wrapped up a very relaxing month of vacation with a visit from my parents. They arrived after being delayed eight hours to what they thought was going to be a beach vacation, but their arrival triggered the end of a very long drought. Good for Uruguay, not so good for them. Nevertheless, we had a great time. We spent a week touring the wine country, driving up the coast, and visiting some of our favorite spots in Montevideo. Some of the highlights included a private tour and meal at one of Uruguay's best wineries, a stay in an old hotel built by an alchemist in the early 1900's, and a lot of good eating.

Here are some of the highlights --

A Day in Uruguay's Wine Country
We were the only visitors to the Juanicó Winery where we had a tour, a tasting, and a private meal in a gorgeous old building.

We stopped at this viewing point while we were driving around the vast grounds.

Jon and my dad enjoying the view.

The four of us in a renovated old building where we ate lunch.

At another winery called Bouza where they are planning on turning the old train car in the background into a two bedroom hotel. Check out the grapes over our heads.

Piriápolis -- A Resort on the Coast
Piriapolis was great for people watching.

And jellyfish spotting. Take a look at the size of this agua viva next to my dad's size 13 foot.

My dad educated us on some of the boats in port.

The one good thing about the clouds is that they made for an unforgettable sunset.

Our hotel which was build by an alchemist.

Staying in it was like stepping into the past.

Mate

My dad was eager to try Mate, the tea that Uruguayans are crazy about.

Renee tried it too.

It's hard to believe the week is already over. It went by way to quickly. Now we are back to reality. We both go back to work on Monday.

Thanks for the great week, Dad and Reneé!

Kelly at Work

2009-01-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

I´m nearly halfway through my fellowship now, and I can´t believe how fast it´s flying by. I don´t know that I have ever had such a rewarding professional experience. These teachers are so great to work with! They are so enthusiastic and eager to participate in the workshops. They are constantly concerned about my welfare and hapiness in their country. But the thing that has touched me the most is the way they have invited me into their lives. Even though I may only spend a couple of days with them, they show me pictures of their families, tell me stories about their students, give me books by their favorite authors, and send me emails to wish me well over the holidays. I feel so lucky to have had this opportunity.

Here are some pictures so you can see what I´ve been up to.

My first workshop with a group of English teachers who were becoming peer coaches. An activity during the workshop.
At a forum on foreign languages with Eli, a fulbright teaching assistant I worked with, my boss, Shirley, and Julio, one of the peer coaches.
A workshop with teachers from the rural area schools. Some students live at these schools during the week because their farms are too far from school.

Working with pre-service teachers at the Institute where they become certified.
A workshop in a state called Paysandú. We left at 4:30 in the morning to get to this workshop and it was about 95 degrees out. I was so tired and sweaty! To make matters worse, the press showed up to to take our picture. I hope those pictures never made it in the paper!

These last few pictures are at an English immersion camp we held for teachers. I wish teachers got to go to camp in our country!

Working on a team project with some teachers.
Trying to do a headstand in the sand.
Enjoying some downtime at the beach.
Crossing a rickety bridge.

As you can see, I´ve been busy, but I´ve also been having a lot of fun.

Living the High Life in Punta del Este

2009-01-11T05:13:00.000-08:00

After four months of simple living, we just spent two days in Uruguay´s exclusive beach resort, Punta del Este. This peninsula is home to only about 50,000 people year round, but the population swells to 300,000 of the wealthiest tourists from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay during the month of January. Sometimes called the ¨St. Tropez of the South,¨ Punta del Este is full of fancy cars, chic hotels, and women in G string bikinis. Although we have been to Punta del Este many times to surf, this is first time we stayed the night and felt the luxury that this place has to offer.

The occasion for our visit was the US Ambassador´s New Year's Celebration and Goodbye Party at his summer house. My work friend, Laura, invited us to stay at her beachfront apartment so that we could attend the party. Here are some pictures of our weekend:

The view from Laura's apartment.

All dressed up for the Ambassador's party.

Ready to rub elbows with the President of Uruguay.

Outside the party with my boss and friend, Shirley.

We returned from the party around 12:30, which is quite early by Uruguayan standards. Many people are still eating dinner at that time. In fact, Jon saw many young people headed home the next morning when he went out to go surfing.

Check out this view of the full moon from the apartment.

José Ignacio

Laura and her husband to us took us visit a few places near Punta del Este like José Ignacio, a small fishing village turned celebrity getaway (Here's an article about it in the New York Times). Apparently Shakira has a home here. These are some pictures of the lighthouse in José Ignacio.

Here we are.

Climbing up the stairs.

Still climbing.

It was so windy that I felt like I was going to get blown off the top. I clung to the wall as Jon walked around and took more pictures.

Whoa!

What a view!

Our gracious hosts, Laura and Luis.

Punta Ballena

The next day Laura and Luis took us to see some of the area's fanciest hotels. The white building in the distance below is called CasaPueblo. It was sculpted out of the rock face by Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez Vilaró. It is amazing inside. Jon and I are planning on spending a night here as part of our year long honeymoon.

Leaning into the wind.

Signs that this used to be just a fishing village.

Jon and Luis.

La Laguna de Sauce

We also visited a nearby lagoon. It was in a hilly area and we smelled pine trees for the first time since we left Colorado.

Las Cumbres hotel

Lastly, we visited an exclusive hotel at the top of the mountain near the lagoon. From here you can see both the lagoon and the ocean. We had tea in the tea room and enjoyed the spectacular views and the ambiance. This was truly an amazing place.

In front of the hotel. Many of the rooms are actually in their own private buildings with complete with decks and spectacular views.

Here is one of the pools. You can see the ocean in the distance.

A view of the lagoon.

We have arrived! This is the life.

Fireworks, Family, and Food

2009-01-04T03:21:00.000-08:00

Kelly and I had no plans this year for New Year's Eve. It snuck up on us. Our Christmas visitors all returned home on the 31st to score cheaper airfare, but this left us with an empty home and no ideas with the New Year fast approaching.

We had heard that New Years in Montevideo is a family holiday. This rumor didn't deter us from assuming that there would be at least a few options for those without family in town. So, we got out the newspaper and the internet and started looking for concerts or other entertainment. Nothing. There were three restaurants offering "Neuvo Año" meals, but they were charging crazy prices -- $100 per person. There was absolutely no live music or entertainment to speak of.

We had also heard that people went outside to light fireworks at midnight. This meant even if we couldn't find something fun to do, we knew that we would be awake when the New Year arrived. In a last ditch effort, we decided to go to a movie that let out at about 11:30 -- how lame of us. I guess a little too lame actually, because the mall was closed. We have never seen it closed. We were starting to realize that this city is quite serious about taking some family time for New Year's Eve.

Defeated, we returned home and worked on our puzzle. We took turns checking email and feeling downright left out of the holiday.

This New Year's Eve we partied with these penguins.

At midnight, a surprise came. The entire city lit up at once. From every neighborhood and every street and every building fireworks shot into the sky. It wasn't choreographed, and the fireworks themselves weren't the most spectacular we've ever seen, but we have never seen such a quantity of fireworks spread over such a vast area. After about 5 minutes of the city being blanketed with fireworks we realized we better take some pictures. We were just stunned by the shear magnitude. Here's a video that we took of the event:

NYE in Montevideo from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

While I was shooting the video, someone lit a firework from below that exploded so near me that I could feel it's warmth on the side of my face and I ran into the house for safety. Our boring New Year had in an instant become an amazingly fun one with one of the most interesting and memorable sights we've ever seen.

The next day, Kelly's friend that she works with invited us to her parents house for a New Year's Day dinner. We ate finger sandwiches and small treats until we were stuffed (assuming they were dinner). Our favorite was a sweetened blondie-like concoction filled with ham and cheese. Who would have ever thought that would taste good? After we were filled to the brim with these, they brought out the main course (more meat of course)! And then ice cream and a delicious fruit tart! Writing about this is making my stomach hurt a little.

But it was a wonderful evening. Their family became our family for the night, and we really enjoyed relaxing with them and talking about life in Montevideo. The whole conversation was in Spanish, so I got to practice in a comforable environment and learn a few new words too.

Happy New Year!
--Jon and Kelly

Mosquitoes, Birds, and Screens

2008-12-31T18:45:00.000-08:00

Whenever I'm at a loss for a conversation topic here in Uruguay, I bring up the common enemy of the people: the mosquito. Mosquitoes have been naturally selected for eons to become the perfect nuisance, and people have been conditioned for millennia to hate them. So when a conversation is losing energy and becoming a chore, I can instantly enliven it at the mere mention of this pest.

"Oh we HATE them! Yes! How many do you get? What do you do at night when you sleep?"

"I KNOW. I had like 40 bites just on this side of my FACE!"

"Oh my GOD. I hate mosquitoes. Why don't they have screens here?"

And that's how the conversation goes. That last question is the most important. Modern humans have developed a near perfect defense against these creatures; I call it "being indoors." Buildings are inaccessible to mosquitoes because they cannot fly through walls. They can fly through open doors and windows, but if people keep their doors shut and have screens in their windows, then the mosquitoes go hungry.

But here in Uruguay screens are unknown. They don't exist. To open a window is to invite the outdoors to participate in indoor life. We never get bored of discussing why they don't have screens here. We have a list that is growing ever longer of possible reasons. Here are some:

Screens are too difficult to manufacture
Too expensive for your average home owner
There didn't used to be enough mosquitoes to warrant them
Harsh chemicals are prefered (grocery stores have a whole aisle of anti-mosquito gizmos)
Most people don't go to sleep until after 3 am in the summer, so it doesn't matter
The climate is too moist and they would rust very quickly
Word of their effectiveness hasn't made it this far south
Deeply rooted anti-screen tradition

And after much debate, none of these can stand on it's own. There are possibly other reasons or a combination of reasons, but the fact remains the same. No screens. This means that at dusk every evening of the summer, people are given two choices. Option one is to close all the windows and roast through a sweaty sleepless night in a mosquito-free sauna, and option two is to leave the windows open and spend a sleepless night hearing that buzzing in your ears and the tickle on your cheeks as the mosquitoes lay the groundwork of a new generation. What I mean by that is only female mosquitoes bite and only after biting can they successfully mate; every time you are bitten by a mosquito, you have made possible a new generation of vile, sneaky, single-minded, nightmare creatures.

Which is the preferred option? Neither options comes with sleep, but both Kelly and I and everyone we know has gone with option one. We would all rather lie sleepless in pools of perspiration in brick buildings set to 'broil' than face attack by the swarming army in the dark.

And despite our focused precaution to shut the windows as soon as the tilt of the sun hits a certain angle, some of these little minions of hate slip in. More than once, we have awakened at two and three and even four in the morning to that soft pinch on an eyelid or earlobe. When this happens, the lights get flipped on and the hunt is on. The conversation during the hunt is focused and unvaried, but the language is so colorful. We can only fall back asleep when the assailant has been killed. Cleaning the blood splat on the wall can wait for the morning.

And mosquitoes are not the only house guests in a world without screens. Not long ago when our visitors were in town I went upstairs to use the bathroom and saw something unexpected in our spare room. I returned downstairs and informed my guests, "there's a bird." It was about the size of a robin. I noticed that birds either need to go number two all the time, or they need to go more often when they become frightened. This bird definitely appeared to have been scared s&*!less. We too were in danger of lightening our load during the harrowing project to remove the bird with a broom; a bird flying directly at you in an enclosed space will invite a panic reaction. Perhaps this comedy was fortunate for our guests as they would not have been treated to freshly laundered sheets had the bird not accepted the invitation of the screenless windows.

The summer is not half over, and our creativity against the mosquitos has run dry. Will we sleep again before fall? What other creatures of nature will make themselves at home?

Christmas at the Christensens

2008-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Punta del Diablo

Unable to go on our traditional holiday backcountry ski trip this year, we were excited to have four friends in town for our trip to a rustic fishing village for the holidays. Punta del Diablo is a beautiful spot for surfing and sunning on the coast of Uruguay near the border of Brazil. Erik and Darcey came all the way from England and Mike and Ashley came from Colorado to join us on this adventure.

The trip began with an early morning bus ride and a trek through the blazing heat with our luggage to get to our house, the very farthest house from town. It wasn't exactly a six mile hike in on skis, but I think we might have been just as sweaty by the time we got there.

The shopping in the town was limited to a couple small grocery stores, but we were able to to whip up a some pretty good holiday meals. Unfortunately, our Christmas Eve meal was posponed because just as we were about to cook everything up on the stove, the gas ran out. When that happens in Montevideo you can have someone deliver you a new gas tank within the hour, but not the case in this small fishing village. We were finally able to pick one up and take it home in the only taxi in town the next day after an adventure involving an old man with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth who sold gas tanks out of the back room of his home.

We drank Mate in the afternoons. Mate is a strong hot tea that Uruguayans drink no matter how warm it is outside.

Erik tried another Uruguayan tradition, a sandwich called a Chivito which should be called the heart attack.

Here is is before eating.

And here he is afterwards. Ugh.

Our Christmas was complete with gifts from Papá Noel and a viewing of the movie "Christmas Vacation."

Erik and Darcey also brought us fun British "crackers" to aid in the celebration. These crowns came inside along with some other goodies.

Similar to a back country hut, our house was cozy but rustic. It had running water, a bathroom, and a stove, but it was also home to a very loud frog, a shrew, a scorpion, many many mosquitoes, and black flies.

We think this is a shrew.

Jon is showing us his technique for catching black flies.

Apparently there are many frogs in Punta del Diablo. This little guy got hit by a car.

A small crab on the beach.

Birds by the water.

Mike was able to sleep soundly despite all of the little critters.

We may not have been able to ski this Christmas, but we certainly spent some time in the ocean. Many hours were spent swimming and surfing.

Erik and Darcey's surf lesson.

Our friend the sea lion.

Thanks Erik, Darcey, Ashley, and Mike
for such a great Christmas!

Sun, Shade, and Shelter

2008-12-11T04:09:00.000-08:00

When you live in a place for a while, things stop seeming new and odd and start becoming normal and routine. Montevideo is feeling more and more like home. It's just the place where we live. Kelly and I have not been on any more trips since her birthday. We've been enjoying the slower and steadier pace of life, the spring weather, and our cozy seaside apartment.

The apartment in particular has been a place of unceasing novelty. When you live right on the water, there's always something to look at. Just yesterday evening, for example, there was a huge wind storm that brought out all the action sports enthusiasts. From our perch, we could see four regular surfers, two wind surfers, and six kite surfers vying for dominance of the arc of beach known as Playa Buceo. The regular surfers didn't stand a chance as they bobbed helplessly. We, and probably they, anticipated decapitation by the kite surfers charging along faster than the cars on the ocean side highway. Meanwhile the kite surfers were running an extreme risk of becoming human marionettes, and the wind surfers were like charging bulldogs with wind powered battering rams. We looked on and said, "cheers" to the comic theater of close calls while chewing another bite of steak.

Fortunately, we've managed to capture a few of the better 'at home' moments on camera.

Kelly tells me that we can see amazing sunrises from our balcony. I guess we'll have to take her word and these pictures as evidence.

Coffee time! You can tell two things: 1) My coffee time doesn't come for HOURS after sunrise, and 2) I couldn't be happier as I drink the real coffee that my parents sent in a birthday package.
Beautiful views come with maintenance requirements. I am washing the balcony glass after a windstorm covered them with oily grimy beach sand.
Uruguayans love the beach. We feel a little removed from the party if we're in the apartment when the beach gets packed.
I wasn't able to figure out what species of spider this is. It freaked me out a little bit when I saw it, but fortunately I was able to to get this photo shortly before its death. (just kidding! I set it free! it's now living a happy spider life far away from me)
Weather rolling through (literally)
The same cloud after it rolled another half mile down the beach.
What kind of new family would we be if we didn't get a pathetic looking fake plastic tree in a bag and decorate it with lights?
Feliz Navidad!!

Birthday Weekend in Buenos Aires

2008-11-22T01:35:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to Buenos Aires to celebrate my birthday. After living in Montevideo for a while, going to B.A. felt like going to New York. I even had one of those moments where I got out of the subway and looked up with my mouth hanging open. It really is a beautiful place. We had a terrific time.

Here I am moments after we got off the ferry from Uruguay. There was no ATM machine or change booth where we arrived so we were sent "five blocks that way." I'm smiling here, but the smile didn't last long as we walked through the worst neighborhood in Buenos Aires with our suitcases in tow. Some of the highlights of the walk included walking through someone's "home" under an interstate and passing a couple with a baby in a baby carriage that were doing crack. Luckily, we made it to the ATM machine and quickly caught a cab to our hotel.

A quick shot at the hotel, ready to head out for the day. Our hotel was a cute little place in a neighborhood called Recoleta. The bottom level was also and art gallery.

The next three pictures were taken in the Plaza de Mayo, the central plaza in Buenos Aires. It was exciting for me to be here after ready so much about the Madres de La Plaza de Mayo, a group of mothers who walk around the plaza every Thursday in protest since their children went missing during the dictatorship.

Here we are. A little windblown, but having fun.

Yuck, pidgeons.

Thanks to Jon's quick camera skills, we caught the changing of the guard on film.

The next two pictures show us at a stop at one of Buenos Aires's many wonderful cafes.

The fanciest mall we've ever seen.

A series of subway pictures: You can see that the walls are tiled. There were beautiful tiles and murals throughout the subway stations.

This picture is taken inside an old wooden subway car that's been restored. We were able to get around easily on the subway, but tourists beware, we saw several pickpockets that were targeting tourists as we rode around.

This bookstore is inside an old theater. The seating area is now the shelves and the stage is a cafe. I was excited to buy a book by Julio Cortázar, one of my favorite Argentine authors. Jon, however, didn't have much luck in his search for books in English. You'd think that with all these books there would be some good ones, but all he could find was a little Steven King and Clive Custler.

The street fair in San Telmo.

Puerto Madero, an upscale port area.

All dressed up to go to the Opera. We saw Mozart's, Don Giovanni. We liked it, but it was a little long to be sitting in seats made for short people.

To give you an idea of the size of this place, Jon made this movie.

Scenes From Buenos Aires from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

We can't wait to go back to Buenos Aires again.

Three Dudes, Some Fish, and a Bathtub

2008-11-21T13:50:00.000-08:00

To an observer, fishing in Brazil is not similar to fishing in Colorado. As I learned, though, they have in common that element of uncertainty that makes fishing what it is and not 'catching.'

Last time I wrote, I introduced Manuel. Manuel and I had an awesome time surfing -- and I really can't stress that enough -- but I also got to know his family. He, his wife Tamara, and their year old baby girl Uiara took me out to several perfect local restaurants where seafood is an understatement. During our delicious meals of shrimp, oysters, fish, and tropical fruits and spices, we discovered that we shared common philosophies about life, business and politics; although Uiara was sometimes pretty stubborn with her opinions.

As if the Manuel and Tamara's hospitality were not enough, I also got to meet their fantastic friends. So it felt as if I had plopped down in Brazil into the exact group of friends that I would want if I actually lived there. One friend in particular, Christiano (probably misspelled), deserves a story of his own. Christiano and I have much in common, namely we both live to surf and fish.

After I had told him about how I like to flyfish in Colorado -- via Manuel who was kind enough to act as an English to Portuguese translator for my entire stay -- Christiano decided he wanted both Manuel and I to join him on a fishing outing. No way in the world I would say no to that. Manuel had already been telling me that Christiano likes to fish using a traditional net throwing method, and that he catches fish that he uses for ceviche.

So one afternoon after yet another surf session that had left every last one of my joints feeling ragged and misaligned, the three of us hopped into Manuel's VW bug and drove do the bay side of Florianapolis island. This side is protected from the frequent coastal winds and has several oyster farms that produce unbelievably large and delicious oysters. It would be between the runners of these Oyster farms that we would do our fishing.

From here, I'll just do a bit of a picture and tell. I was thrilled to be doing something so new and interesting despite some discomfort. I was also reminded that fishing is fishing no matter the method or location. In this case, I loved it as much as I always do on the rivers and lakes of Colorado.

Here we are heading out to the secret spot. Manuel on the left, then Christiano, and Christiano's cousin who didn't join us. I got to know Christiano's cousin later in the evening as we traded licks on the guitar. He beamed when I recognized his rendition of "Another Brick in the Wall", and I was disappointed that he couldn't recognize my rendition of "Sample in a Jar". Sheesh.

This is the secret spot.

Our vessel is rigged and ready to go. Yes, three grown men in that thing! Christiano lovingly refers to it as the "bathtub" in Portuguese. You can also see one of the oyster farms in the background. We would paddle up and down the runners of these farms as Christiano cast the net for fish between the rows of buoys.

Here you can get a better view of the ship. Manuel sat in back, I sat in the middle and Christiano stood in the front for about 3 hours. There were times when I was imagining soft floating pillows of ibuprofen.

Action shot. Christiano about to cast the net. Note how he has a piece of it in his mouth. This is an unbelievably coordinated effort. Remember what he's standing on.

Action shot part two. You can see the lines of the oyster farm. Fish like to hang out among them.

For the first hour or so, our luck was terrible. Then Christiano netted this flying fish and things started to turn for the better. We didn't keep it because I guess flying fish aren't good eating, but they're amazing to look at. Also notice that Christiano is wearing goggles. Whenever the net got snagged on the bottom, he'd jump into the 68 degree water just in boardshorts and fumble around with it five meters below, until he could untangle it.

Closeup of the flying fish

We caught a portuguese man-o-war! Stupidly, they have a different name in Portuguese. Christiano said that he could feel some of the toxin rubbing against his arm from the net after he released this monster.

Our final catch! About 3 or 4 kilos of fish that we wolfed down heartily the next day after Christiano cooked them up in his backyard barbecue. We didn't get any of the fish that are good for ceviche except for one that got away... nevermind.

Florianapolis, Taj Burrow, and Spiderman

2008-11-10T04:31:00.000-08:00

In completely unfair manuevre, I went to Brazil last week for a little sun and fun and left Kelly to hold down the fort here in Montevideo. My friend and former colleague Mariela has a brother in Florianapolis, Brazil named Manuel who shares a common love of surfing. It was, therefore, not difficult to convince him to join me for a little journey down the coat to see the ASP World Tour event at Imbituba.

For those unfamiliar with the ASP world tour: It includes the world's 45 best contest-winning surfers, and I say 'contest-winning' because who can really say that they're the world's best surfers? Each year there are 12 events at some of the most famous waves in the world in places like Tahiti, Hawaii, Australia, Fiji, South Africa, and, fortunately, Brazil! All the surfers get points based on their standings in each competition, and the overall points winner at the end of the tour is crowned the world champion. Kelly Slater has won the world championship 9 times, and this year he got so many points so early in the tour that he had already clinched the title before the Brazilian competition began. As such, he didn't even bother to attend. A bit of a bummer.

Even though Kelly Slater bailed, there were several famous surfers there to inspire our own surfing.

I put together a short video with some footage and photos (mostly taken by Manuel) of our day at the competition. The surfers in the video are Taj Burrow -- an Australian ranked number 3 in the world right now, and Bernardo Miranda -- a Brazilian wild card surfer who caught our attention with some very nice waveriding.

ASP World Tour (WCT) Santa Catarina Pro 2008 from Jon Christensen on Vimeo.

Later this week, I'll write a little more about my journey and maybe tell you about fishing from a bathtub.

(as an aside, notice that I used Vimeo instead of YouTube for the video? Well I'll tell you that I spent almost a whole day trying to get YouTube to produce a video with enough quality that it didn't embarrass me, and then I found Vimeo. What a difference!)

Election Night at the Ambassador´s House

2008-11-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

Last week Jon spent the week in Brazil while I celebrated election night at the ambassador´s house. I was pretty excited when I received a personal invitation to 2588 Lord Ponsonby St. because I´d seen the house from the outside and it is enormous. I felt honored to be invited to such an exclusive event. Little did I know that 1000 other people had also been invited. According to my boss, we were on T.V. as we greeted the ambassador and his wife. I tried to find a link to it so you could see my debut on Uruguayan television, but no such luck. I did, however, find this link to some pictures from the event. As you can see, they went all out. It was entertaining to watch a lot of well-dressed people stand around and eat hot dogs and hamburgers. Not exactly finger food. All in all, the party was fun. I met some new people and learned some interesting things about elections in Uruguay.

Interesting facts about elections in Uruguay

Did you know that....

Voting is compulsory in Uruguay?
If citizens do not vote they do not receive their paychecks. Students cannot take their final exams.

Election day is a holiday here?
No one worries about lines at the polls because everyone has the day off. Must be nice.

Most people in Uruguay remember a time when they didn´t have the right to vote?
The dictatorship lasted until 1985 so most people lived during a time when they didn´t have this privilege. Talking with them about it makes me realize how lucky I am to be from a country where we take this right for granted.

Stay tuned for stories and pictures from Jon´s adventures in Brazil...

Me, My Surfboard, and Whales

2008-10-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went surfing as I do every week. Which day I surf is based on obsessive-compulsive checking of the surf forcast combined with an extreme lack of patience. Somehow yesterday all the variables fell into place and I went on the perfect day.

I got off the bus at about 9 am in Punta del Este and anxiously went to check the water. I only have to walk about a minute from the bus station to see how the waves will be because the bus station is across the street from "Los Dedos" -- a huge concrete sclupture of the fingertips of a hand in the beach sand. From Los Dedos, you can see up and down the coast to a couple of popular breaks in Punta. Yesterday when I first looked out at the water between the fingers, it looked calm and almost flat.

I saw something, though. I caught it just out of the corner of my left eye. What was that? It looked like maybe some kind of spray coming from somewhere out in the water between the beach and the far island. Imediately I thought it may have been a dolphin, so I kept watching.

I shielded my hand against the glare of the morning sun. I was looking eastward standing on the eastern side of the point that makes Punta del Este, so it was difficult to focus against the bright light reflecting off the water. I stared for maybe a minute and saw nothing more, so I continued to walk toward the day's most likely spot to find waves.

Halfway there I saw something again. Another guy walking near me also saw it, and we both veared immediately from the pavement to the sand to get closer to the water and take a better look. We looked out with our hands up to shield our eyes and saw something big and black in the water. By this point it was easy to see that whatever it was was bigger than a dolphin. I decided it was either a whale or a killer whale. I didn't know whether either one habits the waters near Punta del Este, but I felt my heart start to thump a bit. I was feeling a quick jolt of adreneline both from the excitement of seeing some kind of huge animal that I had never seen and also from a little twinge of fear that it may not be safe to surf near such an enormous beast.

As I kept looking eastward and walking up the beach I saw another one a little further away. Its head surfaced and continued rising high into the air before crashing back down. A whale! Now I knew for sure there were two whales right off the coast. One couldn't have been more than two hundred meters away, and the other was about twice as distant.

I quickened my pace because I wanted to experience suring among whales. Once I arrived at my spot, I shed my street clothes and squeezed into my wetsuit faster than ever. I was so focused on getting ready that I hadn't even noticed that the waves were peeling and glassy and so regular that you could set a clock to them. Things seemed like they just couldn't get any better as I ran out to the water with my board.

I figured that the whales were passing by and that they would be gone in a few minutes. Instead they stayed nearby all day. One even came within 50 yards of our lineup. An older guy (maybe 60s) that owns the nearby surf shop paddled gently and silently further out on his longboard to swim right next to the giant, and we all watched him and the whale to see if they would both be safe. When this nearest whale released its air from it's blowhole it made and enourmous hollow whooshing sound that all the surfers answered with an appreciative 'yooooooooo!' We all forgot to pay attention to the oncoming waves at this point, and a few people got thrown over the falls by surprise -- well I did.

The near whale just floated and relaxed this close to the surfers for about twenty minutes. All we could see of it was a big black mass with a few barnacles sticking out of the water. Every few minutes it would slap the water with a flipper that was longer than any of our boards, and once it rose it's head high enough for all of us to see one of it's softball sized eyes. With that came another "yoooooooooo!"

When I returned home simply stoked from such a beautiful day on the water, I took a minute to look up the whales I saw. It looks like they were probably Southern Right Whales which average about 60 feet long. Incredible. And it is incredible that I have had such luck with sea mamal encounters while surfing this year. A friendly hello from a bottlenose dolphin in San Diego in May, then surfing with a surfing Sea Lion in September, and now surfing with whales.

For the curious, I asked a guy in the lineup what the spanish word is for whale. He replied "ballena."

Surf Trips, Gym Memberships, and Mexican Food

2008-10-19T08:42:00.001-07:00

I've learned quite a bit of Spanish by reading the surf report regularly. Last week, I learned the word for 'hope' from it. That's what surfers were telling each other to do, 'Hope for good waves.' It worked! The collective energy and focus of the Uruguayan surf community brought us out of the miserable cold, wet, and wind of last week into a perfect day yesterday.

Kelly and I woke up before the sun and taxied our way to the bus station in order to catch a bus to Punta del Este, my regular surf spot. This time, she too had plans to surf. She had called ahead on Friday to arrange a lesson for herself. For this reason, we were both day dreaming about waves as the bus rolled and swayed past the grassy countryside.

Once we arrived and felt the warm sun and the still air, we knew our optimism had been warranted. We walked from the bus station to the surf shop where Kelly's lesson would begin and where I would surf nearby. I selfishly left Kelly to her lesson and headed out to the water. Once out in the lineup, I hardly looked back to shore.

Maybe I should have kept an eye on Kelly, or rather on Juan the instructor of her private surfing lesson. Kelly swears he didn't show her how to paddle using the classic, stand-behind, tennis lesson maneuver, but I'm dubious. She quoted him as saying "Yes it is good that girls learn to surf. It is good to hang out with girls." Well, Juan, you just better be careful because this girl happens to be my wife! Despite my rage and jealousy, I noticed Kelly standing on her board and riding several waves, so Juan is safe at least for now.

Last night we went out for Mexican. Kelly noticed that the menus were in Mexican Spanish, and I immediately started to salivate. I was ready for some real authentic Mexican food because so much cheese, pasta, bread and steak have been wearing my stomach lining a little thin. Alas, ordering Mexican food in Uruguay is similar to what I would expect it to be like in an Amish village (no offence meant to any Amish readers). Nothing spicy, no fresh chillies or peppers. No avocado or mango. Tortillas that could be mistaken for pasta and salsa that was literally marinara sauce. Really it was just Uruguayan food in a Mexican setting.

Because we eat so much Uruguayan food, it's very important that we belong to a gym. In fact, we belong to the largest and most exclusive health and fitness club in all of Montevideo. To be a member, we first had to prove our health according to government standards by obtaining a "Proof of Health ID Card" or "Carne de Salud". We visited a medical center one morning a few weeks ago to have our teeth checked, provide our immunization records, go in a cup, give our blood, and endure a complete physical. In fact, the only things they didn't check were our ears. I'm glad of that because I think I've got a little wax buildup.

Carne de Saluds in hand we returned to the gym to sign the rulebook and give our fifty bucks. We are now members! We have access to clay tennis courts, a full size lap swimming pool, weights and spinning, pilates, yoga, and aerobics, and pretty much anything we can imagine including water dancing for singles. This coin, though, has two sides.

The exercise machines are all falling apart, the weights are all Arnold-sized, the weight room is full of dudes that think their Arnold-sized, the pool tastes like electricity, and the locker room floors are deadly slippery ... deadly. The club rules are a disciplinarian's dream. I have been reprimanded for not wearing shower shoes, for not wearing a swim cap, and for walking into the sink area of the locker room with street shoes on. After Kelly found out about my flirtations on the wrong side of the law, she didn't even try getting away with wearing her two piece lap swimming suit.

Maybe I don't mind that last rule. Just in case Juan is a member...

Jon's Birthday in La Paloma

2008-10-11T04:26:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we spent a couple days up the coast from Montevideo in a little fishing town and beach resort called La Paloma. It's off season in La Paloma right now so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Well almost to ourselves. Jon surfed with a sea lion who made him look like a beginner.

As we explored the town we found some whale bones, a restaurant that served many varieties of fried fish, a light house, and some cool tide pools.

The flag in the whale's mouth was a nice touch.

Jon's thinking hard about which of the 8 varieties of fried white fish to get. So many choices!

I loved this lighthouse! It was first build by the Spaniards, but it collapsed killing 30 of them.

Jon's Checking out the tidepools.

We stayed at a very colorful hotel that had a horse hangin out by the pool.

The hotel was clean, quiet, and right on the beach. Unfortunately, it was also home to some mosquitoes that waited for us to fall asleep and then reeked havoc on our faces. I even had a mosquito bite on my eyelid! When I got back to work on Monday my co-workers informed me that in Rocha, the state where La Paloma is located, there is a fly that bites you and leaves a worm under your skin. If you are lucky enough to live near a doctor, he will put an airtight bandage on the bite and the worm will come out for air. Those people who live in rural areas opt for putting bacon on the bite. Eventually the worm come out to eat it. Yum! Luckily, we were only bitten by mosquitoes.

Bye-bye La Paloma.

Shakey video clips, singing clowns, and tango in the streets

2008-10-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went downtown to find out what Día del Patrimonio is all about. It's a fairly recently created holiday (civic event?) during which people are allowed into buildings that are usually closed, museums are free, and performers and goods line the streets.

Go ahead and check it out in this 4 minute video:

Springtime in Montevideo

2008-09-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

After several weekends of rainy weather, the gods finally smiled on us today and gave us a warm and sunny Saturday. Here's some pictures from our day:

The day started of at the Puertito de Buceo, our neighborhood marina. My dad would really like this place

Then we headed up to the zoo. It was more like a petting zoo really because you could reach through the fence to touch and feed most of the animals. I saw a goat get poked in the eye :( There were also some strange combinations of animals together in their pens. Take a look at the combinations in these pictures.

Here we are checkin out the animals.

After the Zoo, we took our beach cruisers for a test drive along the beach. We decided these new to us bikes are very Uruguayan because they make the same creaks and groans that the taxis and buses make here.

Sidewalks, Buses, and Secretaries

2008-09-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

I just returned home from another surf expedition, and I could not possibly be more content. I have sore muscles and red sunburned eyes, but these are easily soothed by an afternoon bowl of cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios) and a cup of coffee (unfortunately Nescafe). So with hot drink in hand, I'm ready to get blogging.

First let me tell you about my experience with several South American bilingual secretaries in training. It was this past Monday night. I was hot when I arrived (caliente in Spanish) because I was over dressed and late. The six women were growing impatient because they had been anticipating my appearance for over a week...

wait. this isn't going where I was planning on taking it.

... so what really happened is that Kelly volunteered my time at the Binational Center, and my first assignment was to show up as a guest for a class of, well, South American bilingual secretaries in training.

Jokes aside, it was pretty cool. I went to meet with the class and I talked to them about my work experience and about business meetings and "business speak" in the US. I wondered where their view of the US was coming from, and they let me know that it is from the O.C. and Laguna Beach. I'm not surprised. But wouldn't it be funny if it was from Cops?

We talked quite a bit about the differences between the US and Uruguay, and I think I represented pretty well, but I put my foot in my mouth at one point when I mentioned that Administrative Assistants (we talked about how 'secretary' is not a word used in the US anymore) are sometimes promoted to management positions. I guess that doesn't happen here.

Nonetheless, we all left each other in good spirits, and I told them they were always welcome at my gated community if they ever found themselves in Vail.

Part of why that meeting went so well is that I showed up in a really good mood. I hate hate hate taking the bus, and I loath anything to do with buses and if there's anything that makes me want to turn away from green and go back to gray, it's buses. But the bus ride to the meeting downtown was shockingly pleasant. A couple of young dudes hopped on the bus in the middle of the route. One had a guitar and both had perfectly in-tune, full, sweet singing voices. They harmonized a haunting ballad in Spanish that I couldn't understand, and it was amazing. I guess this type of thing happens in most countries south of the border, but this is the first time I have experienced it, and I was really pleased to have some high quality live music for my loathsome bus ride.

And finally, speaking of loathsome, what do you think this guy just did?:

That's right. He laid another pedestrian mine. My shoes pick up 'shrapnel' at least once a week. It is SO GROSS. Unlike Boulder where "failure to properly dipose of pet waste" is a felony offence punishable by 20 to life, Montevideo has opted to go laissez faire.

Not Surfing, Not Surfing, and Surfing

2008-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

Aaaah yeeeeeah. Today I went surfing. Finally. It took three tries.

The first try was last Friday. Almost a week ago now. I was pretty excited last Friday to give it a go, and I had read what I could of the surf forecast in Spanish. The forecast had said there would be a swell of 1 to 1.5 meters, and I figured, 'perfect.'

By the way, for those who are confused, from our apartment here in Montevideo, we can see the beach, and we can see waves, but Montevideo is a little too tucked away to get much in the way of surfable waves. The nearest spot with any amount of consistency is called Punta del Este. When we were on our way here, I got confused and thought that Punta del Este was about 30-45 km away. I was wrong. It is actually just over 100km and over 2 hours by bus. Ouch.

No problem! I'll just hop on the bus once a week, and that will be a breeze. I imagined myself just walking down to the main street and hopping on the bus. Not quite. It turns out that I have to take a taxi for 20 minutes to the bus station. No problem! The taxis are cheap here. Why, though, why do they ALL have a divider across the center of the car between the front and back seats? It makes getting a surfboard into a taxi an totally impossible.

So now back to last Friday. Kelly opted to join me for my first attempt at surfing. She came along for a little adventure and to help me figure out the lay of the land by using her Spanish. Step one was to get the cab. We got one in record time, and then the driver decided to be the most friendly guy ever and totally promised me that my surfboard would be fine as he plopped it halfway out of the trunk with the trunk lid resting on it's sweet spot. He was like "blah blah blah" which meant "Silly guy who doesn't know how to talk, I will be going slow and it's ok, trust me!" I and was like "::spittle:: ::red face:: ::shaking:: MUY FRAGILO!!" As we were driving, I almost hit him when I thought I heard the trunk lid bouncing on the board and he starting singing "Don't worry be happy."

So now my board has a new ding in it, but at least it didn't fall out of the taxi and get run over. If that had happened I probably wouldn't be a free man writing this blog. And now on to step 2, taking the bus. Since the bus ride wasn't that bad, you need know nothing more of it.

Step 3, we arrive! What's even better is that we arrived without a plan! I knew where some of the surf spots were relative to each other, but not relative to the bus station. Fortunately, Kelly knew that the bus station would be right by the beach, so we walked over to the beach to get a look. I think 'choppy' would be a bit of an understatement. The ocean was getting stirred up by the gods, and we were getting blown away from the beach.

Las olas no están buenas (the waves aren't good)

I think the beach didn't want us there. We spent the next 5 hours walking around in the wind trying to figure out where the surf shop is and whether there was anybody surfing (I think we stopped for some empanadas at one point).

After 4.5 hours of walking in the wind with a surfboard

When at last we found the surf shop we were told with a chuckle that it is a wee bit too windy to surf today.

Repeat steps 2 and 1 in reverse order, but change mood to defeated. Thankfully, also we found a slightly better way to carry the board in the taxi. Better to keep it in the back seat with the nose sticking out of the window.

So that was my first attempt at surfing. The next attempt happened the very next day. Kelly called up from downstairs and said "Jon! Look outside!" I looked. Low and behold there was someone surfing right outside our apartment. ::queue the sound they play right before The Simpsons starts:: I watched the guy for a while, and he was picking off a wave in each of the sets that came by about once every 3-5 minutes. I peered even more closely, and saw he was riding a shortboard. This is when I told Kelly, "I'm going out there."

I put on my wetsuit right here in the apartment. (ridiculous to be wearing a wetsuit indoors) I grabbed my board and, "D'Oh!!" There's this stupid little piece of rope that connects a leash to the board and I was missing it. Stymied again!! The idea of breaking my board over my knee seemed like a good idea for a second. The brief spell of waves in front of our place fortunately didn't torture me much longer. The wind came right up and knocked them down. Why is it so windy here?

That little piece of rope I was missing allowed me to have the most in depth Spanish conversation I have had to date. I now know, from mumbling to the guy at the surf shop in broken spanish, that a ferretería is a hardware store.

So with my surfboard fixed, and my attitude adjusted, I tried again today. Forecast not too windy: check. Cab ride: check. Bus ticket: check. Bus ride: check. Finding waves? check. It all fell into place. And I gotta give an 'hola, buenos días' to my new friends Claudio, Juan, and Toto who I met at the break for helping me know what to do with my stuff while I was surfing and how to get into the lineup.

How was my first day? Let's say that as someone new to shortboarding, and not that great at surfing, I would have preferred to save the 'overhead and tubes' days for a little later. I got thrashed out there. THRASHED.

Parakeets, Lapwings and Fingers

2008-09-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Kelly thinks I have an unnatural fondness of birds. So in order to not dissappoint her, I took pictures of some birds I saw on our trip to Punta del Este. First the Monk Parakeet:

And also the Southern Lapwing who is apparently the national bird of Uruguay (lets not get into a discussion of who would win in a "national bird cage match".)

These birds with their bright colors and their flying around are heralding a time of warmer weather and less wind to come.

High five!

Cart Rage

2008-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took a day to explore Punta del Este and on the way I think we found the only mountain in Uruguay.

Okay, it was more of a hill, but it was a huge contrast to most of the countryside which looks more like this:

Punta del Este was pretty much closed up for off season, so it wasn't all that we were hoping for, but it was still nice to get out of town.

Another thing we did this weekend was spend some time at the mall. We have never been big mall shoppers, and it is the last thing I expected to do in Uruguay. Somehow, though, we just keep ending up at the mall. Yesterday we went to two different malls. We were on a mission to buy an ironing board and some polyester-free sheets. Sounds easy enough, but it actually required a trip to two different places.

Before you write us off as shopaholics, let me tell you that we hate going to the mall. Each time we end up there, we give each other a wry look and one of will mutter, "Back at the mall." It's not that the malls here aren't nice places. They have good stores and a nice food court. The thing we hate about them is the crowds. People here are generally kind, friendly, and polite, but let's just say they have a very different sense of personal space. In a large crowd they are looking out for numero uno. Last night, for example, as I tried to get a look at the times the movies were playing, a well-dressed old lady with very few hairs left nearly took me to the ground. She looked so kind and unassuming, but apparently I was in her way.

Fending for yourself is difficult enough in the wide hallways in the main part of the mall, but it is truly impossible with a cart inside the crowded grocery stores that you find at the mall. People just leave their carts in the middle of the isle as they slowly peruse the shelves, but if you do that to them, watch yourself. There are no excuse mes, no sorries, it's just a physical contest to get what you want. Cart rage really doesn't even describe what I feel as I try to maneuver my way through the isles. I want to hide under my cart. Everyone else seems to make there way down the isle OK, but it's like we don't know the rules to the game. We're just these big American targets that everyone is after.

Anyway, now that we have our sheets and an ironing board, I think we'll stick to the corner markets as much as possible.

My Turn

2008-09-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

You may have been wondering why Jon is doing all the blogging. All I can say is somebody has to earn a living in this town:) Actually, so far I haven't been working all that much. My official work week started on Monday and I have been easing into the work routine. My supervisor assures me that things will get busy, but that she doesn't want me to be overwhelmed at the beginning. I think I'm going to like this lady.

Some of you have asked what my work day is like here. Basically, I'm working with the superintendent of English programs in all the secondary schools to start a peer coaching program with selected English teachers from each province in the country. I will be planning trainings and eventually we will travel around the country to train peer coaches. This week I've spent a lot of time visiting schools and classes, giving feedback to student teachers, and getting to know the system here.

Yesterday I went to visit a school in a rural town called Sauce that is about 40 km from the capital. The women in my office joked that I should have signed something in the town to prove that I was there because I was certainly the only American to ever have visited this small farming community. Although the town was not much more that a few blocks on each side of a town plaza, the school was very big. This is because many students who live at far away farms ride buses to get the school. Like all public schools here, this large brick building was unheated. You would think someone who grew up in the snow would be able to stand the mild temperatures here, but I don't think I could put up with working in such cold buildings. I sat in the school yesterday with a wool sweater, a scarf, and a heavy wool coat on and froze the entire time. There are so many things we have in the U.S. that we take for granted.

Here is a picture of a public school in the neighborhood where we live.

Dollars, Politicians, and iPhones

2008-09-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

We are really starting to get settled into our new place. So much so that our lives are already falling into familiar routines and we are becoming comfortable despite that we are standing upside down on the world.

My two big things, surfing and learning Spanish, could use a kickstart, but since I didn't work at all last week, this week is all about coding by the sea. So I don't have a great new story. Instead, I'm going to share some observations about American influence in Uruguay.

Dollars. You can get dollars out of the ATMs here and you have to use dollars instead of Uruguayan Pesos to make many major purchases. Isn't that odd? It's also odd that the Spanish word for dollars is difficult to pronounce for native English speakers. So sometimes I have to stand upside down on the planet, pull out my native greenbacks and mumble 'dólares' with a mouthfull of marbles. It's a hard trick. I'm sure I could look up why Uruguayans have chosen to use dollars as part of their currency, and how long this has been going on, but I'm content to live in the dark for now. Actually, Kelly might inquire about this with some of her embassy friends, so I'll let you know when I find out.

Politicians. Uruguay seems to be pretty interested in the US presidential election. There is news of it every day in El Páis (the newspaper that I am using to start fires every night because I can't read it and because we have no central heating in our apartment). Kelly translated a section about John McCain to me. It was really boring because it was perhaps the most unbiased reporting I have ever laid witness to. I wanted some firey opinions like we get in our news or at least some "expert" speculation. Nonetheless, the election news is overshadowing much of the local news, and people read it. Given how many of my own friends I gently reminded on the location of Uruguay, I think it's safe to say that most of the United States has no idea where Uruguay is. So isn't it amazing that this country spends so much of it's time thinking about the United States? Isn't even more crazy that people in the United States assume that "Uruguay" (in quotes on purpose) must be an impoverished country even though the Uruguayan middle class as a whole might be healthier than that of the US and might have a better standard of living? Phew, lemme just take a second to have a sip of Coke...

iPhones. iPhones have made it to Uruguay. They didn't come on their own because they don't have wings or legs to make the journey. So that means that people from Apple in California have been working with some Uruguayan importers to get them in. People from Apple in California have also been working with Uruguayans that sell billboard space and who create end caps for supermercados. Oh and also 3G. Uruguay doesn't have AT&T, so people from Apple in California have been working with wireless carriers in Uruguay to ensure that they have Uruguayan 3G too. The point I'm not being subtle about is that it is a ridiculous undertaking. I'm sure there were project managers of project managers and that there were people designing leave-behinds, writing copy, planning logistics, installing networking software and pulling all nighters. For all these people to bring the iPhone to Uruguay must have cost MILLIONS. And what's best about it is to think that Steve Jobs might krinkle his brow and scratch his cheek if you asked him where Uruguay is. Even if he knows right off the bat, I'm floored beyond belief about how much power and influence American companies are able to exert on all the corners of the Earth.

"Hasta la vista" is not something people would ever say in Spanish.
--Jon and Kelly

Apartments, Diplomats, and Canadians

2008-09-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for helping us with "Decision 2008." We read your comments and we intended to follow through with your suggestions. We revisited your favorite apartment (number 3 according to the proposed numbering scheme), looked each other in the eye, and said "Yes. I can see myself here." We even went back to the hotel and talked it over some more and got excited about spending our year there.

Then the real estate agent came in with a last second hail mary surprise, and now we have the best apartment in all of Montevideo.

We move in tomorrow!!!

Decision 2008 made. So in our newfound jubilation, we went to a "soiree" this evening to meet with some embassy folks and diplomats. Despite that we were told to dress casual, I put on a sport jacket and Kelly wore dress pants. When we showed up, most of the people -- men and women -- were wearing suits to the casual event. Thus, looking a little under dressed we got to do meet and greet

As with many soirees, though, that are in a room full of people that don't speak my language, I started to run out of things to say. Fortunately, there was another dude at the party who was obviously also American, and when we told him that we could tell he was American, he quickly corrected us, "No... Canadian." Who woulda thought there'd be American looking Canadians in Uruguay?

Keep it real up there in the northern hemi.
--Jon and Kelly

Luggage, Miami Sweat, Diplomats, and Apartments

2008-09-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

We got here. Down to the southern hemisphere where contrary to what I thought, the toilet water turns in the same direction as it does in Colorado.

It was so easy to hop on a plane with our twelve pieces of luggage because only three of them were over the 50 pound threshold, and of the remaining 9, only 3 of those were over the size restriction set by the airlines.

For six hours on Labor Day we turned our backs on tradition by working. That is by dragging our carry-on luggage through the muy muy caliente streets of Miami. Was it better to leave the crowded airport with our luggage than it would have been to stay? The jury's still out. I think my expression looks a bit strained in this picture near the BaySide Mall. If you haven't been to BaySide Mall, you can probably just let us tell you about it and save yourself the trip.

But now. Now we're in Uruguay. In Montevideo! Now that we're here, Kelly is meeting her colleagues while I catch up on sleep. One of the most interesting people she met was the ambassador.

Today we spent the day checking out apartments. After about a dozen we lost track of which is which. We don't know which one to live in. This is where you come in. You get to pick where we will live! Just tell us which one you like best, and we will move in.

OK. Here's a couple parting shots near our hotel to prove that we're in a cool place (it looks cool and feels cool). But seriously, we are happy to be here, we miss all of you that are reading this. See you soon!

Disclaimer

2008-08-17T16:28:00.001-07:00

"This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows' own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State."

From Vail to Montevideo

2008-08-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come for the Christensens to head south. After our wedding at Piney Lake and a month of preparation and packing, we leave for Uruguay on September 1st. We will be spending our first year of marriage in the city of Montevideo where Kelly will be working with English teachers as an English Language Fellow for the U.S. Department of State. Jon will be working remotely, surfing, and learning Spanish.

Here's a map of where we'll be living.

This is Kelly's project description:

Uruguay
City Montevideo
Host Institution ANEP - National Administration of Public Education
Type of Project Fellow
Project Dates September 2008 –June 2009

Project Focus
American Culture, English for Listening, English for Reading, English for Speaking, English for Writing, Teaching Methodologies, Teaching Techniques

Project Description
For 70% of the time, the EL Fellow will develop materials to support a new national curriculum of content-based immersion at the elementary level. These will include academic classroom activities, supplemental learning materials, and support materials for teachers´ ongoing professional development. The focus will be on 5th and 6th grade. The 2007 EL Fellow provided substantial support to the development of the new curriculum, but there is still much to be done, specifically exploring and creating appropriate evaluation and assessment mechanisms for this program, especially appropriate exit mechanisms for each grade level. For 30% of the time, the EL Fellow will do secondary projects such as supporting the continued development of a peer coaching program and encouraging reflective teaching and constructive feedback.