Day 2 - Orientation and Mercado del Puerto, and Tango

After a good night's sleep, I was ready for the first true day of orientation. It began with an introduction to Uruguay with some facts and information about the country. My favorite part was the comic strip of Cristian Dzwonik. It's a cat like Garfield, but from Argentina instead. I've always wanted to use tiras comicas. I remember one of my Spanish teachers put them at the bottom of the tests. Clearly, it affected me. Click here to find more Gaturro. I like these ones, and I think these are totally appropriate for level 1 or 2.

Here is another one called Brutish English. It would be fun for the kids to look up the words in Spanish that Gaturro guesses wrong. Here is a sample.

Then, we had a guest come into give us a lecture about the Uruguay Education System. I think that is one that needs it's own post to go through similarities, differences, challenges, and reforms.



Chimichurri

We went from there to the Mercado del Puerto where we had some lunch. Here is a video of the actual place. There the famous Uruguayan medio medio drink was made famous - which is a mix of champagne and white wine. We had that with some typical Uruguayn fare.



Meat and Provolone Cheese

Flan with Dulce de Leche

Here is a video of the market.

After we went to the Embassy, but no pictures, and nothing really to report there. It was nice to check off another Embassy I have visited.

Finally, we ended our day at the director's home for some refreshments and light snacks. It was a beautiful apartment. To top it off, she invited tango dancers to her apartment for us. It was so nice. Although I have always thought of tango as strictly Argentinean, Uruguay does share it in common with their neighbor since they have the Rio de la Plata in common. Even Carlos Gardel, the King of Tango, is believed by Uruguayans to have been born in their country laying claim to one of the most influential figures in the history of tango.