School again...

Good grief I really don't think I am going to come back knowing any more Spanish than when I left. Seriously how hard can this be??? The only thing that makes me feel a bit better is that Allen is just as confused as I am. Well that is not quite true. He thinks he figured out something major on Sunday but he has yet to share his coded flashcards with me. He has had some revelation and is quite proud of his system. There seems to be flashcards with codes. Some of them have two corners cut off while others only have one corner cut...maybe he will have time tomorrow to enlighten me. Maybe he just invented the new rosetta stone program and we will be rich. Meanwhile I go to school and do the written exercise not understanding a damn thing.

Mecki learned that Allen can be pretty handy to have around the house. He installed a new fan in the bathroom, used the old one to put on the roof so leaves don't fall in the house, he hung a mosquito net on her door, now they are both refinishing her outdoor table. I think he is enjoying the puttering. Everything is a challenge here. I have been to the ferreteria so many times I can't count. (hardware store) we took three trips to figure out how to translate and find urethane glue. Everything is imported and they only have small stores here so there is a very limited supply and not many choices for supplies. I am sure that's why Allen is fixing stuff. Start saving your wine corks. Wine corks are the new duct tape. The next project will elevate Allen to king status if he can pull it off. She has a Murano glass light fixture that she brought from New York. We might be able to have my dad bring the right transformer to make it work with the different voltage here. I have a feeling Allen could live in Montivedo and trade work for food and housing from the expats. Word is spreading that he is pretty handy. Now if I could get him to do some things at home. I understand that it is not the same challenge when you can go to home depot. I must admit today we went to the largest ferreteria and I am thinking about going back and buying a paint stick and a paint roller that I saw...they were very different than I have ever seen and might be pretty slick!
Food update. The best part of our day...we purchased some Uruguayan olive oil to dip bread into. It is new that Uruguay is making wine, olive oil and cheese. Allen and I walked up to the mall for dinner and had the best Cheviots. That is a sandwich on a kaiser type roll with beef (of course...) bacon, fried onions and red peppers melted white cheese and today's special had a fried egg. It is hard to eat like a sandwich so I just use a fork And knife. Speaking of forks and knives, I am practicing the art of European utensil etiquette. You hold your fork in the left hand while you hold the knife in the right. You do not put either down. Your hands are not supposed to be under the table ever. That is considered rude or that you might be stealing something. I am better at this new utensil use than I am Spanish.

One more food note. While we were at the mall eating, Francisco's maid Christina delivered us a bread pudding that she made because she felt bad about the first flan-tastrophy. I called Francisco on the phone and explained the new American term OMG!!!