Four weeks in!

Hola a todos:)

To start this post off, I must tell you something that happened on the way to "el centro" (the student center) just now. My professor for my culture class is something you would see off of a comedy. He is a skinny, probably around 80-year old man with a terrible come-over, who seems to always fit a sex joke into his lectures. On the way to el centro, Shelby and I see him. As I am about to say, "Buenos Tardes," he COMPLETELY takes me by surprise and says in a very Spanish accent "Whats uuup?" Neither Shelby nor I were capable of responding. We just died laughing.

So where to begin?! I guess we'll start before Tropical Storm Isaac. As you know, we have been very limited in our cooking wear, so this is how we have been making scrambled eggs:

Yes in these little tiny coffee cups. Who know they would turn out to be so useful?!

However, we discovered we can make scrambled eggs with coffee cups, and we can make pancakes and toast by putting olive oil straight on the burner and then throwing them on! SO, this is what we got... our first REAL breakfast!! :)

Pancakes, toast, eggs, grape juice and coffee. BOOM. 

 -Remember. Little things. :)

Shelby and I had also been talking about how boring our dorm room was. So we bought a glass jar of amazing apple juice, because the bottle was so cool. After the we drank the juice, we went walking around San Germán and picked a bunch of flowers. This isn't even all of them, this is just all that could fit. We were pretty dang proud of ourselves! Haha.

First dorm decoration 

Annnd I guess that leads us to Isaac!

Two weeks ago on Wednesday, two of the girls that work at the "front desk" or whatever of the dorms, came into our room, woke us up, and told us that there was a storm coming and that we had to be out of our rooms by four. They also told us we would be there until FRIDAY. They gave us ten dollar "tickets" to go get food at el centro.  They told us they we had to get our food before 2:30, when el centro would close.

Side note: Communication is NOT the university's strong point. It has been a constant frustration since the minute we got to campus!

As I was saying, we got up and decided to go get food first and pack up and move out later. We started throwing a few things together, when some other ladies came up and told us actually to be out by 1. So,  we didn't have to get food first, so we showered and got ready, threw a few things in a bag, locked the door, and headed out. We went to the boys dorm, where we would be staying, threw our stuff in the lobby and headed to el centro.

When we got there at 1:10, there were only a few older men there working and they kept shaking their heads and saying, "está cerrado." So we tried to explain that we were told it was open until 2:30, but they refused to let us in. We had just been kicked out of our dorms and thrown into a room without a fridge, with a little bit of dry cereal, so this food was pretty important to us. I contacted one of the coordinators I knew (who had told me 2:30) and we sat at el centro until she had made enough calls, and finally 2 ladies came out with a couple bags with chicken, rice, beans, cheesecake, gatorade and water in it. Por fin!! Gracias Surmari!!

So we stayed there, playing pool, walking around, being bored, waiting until Friday. We even had a four hour game of hide and seek throughout campus one night. On Friday, Shelby and I were about to pack up and leave when we discover that we had to stay until Sunday! Madre mia! We literally walked 45 minutes away to "La plaza oeste" to get some food and underwear, etc. I even bought a cheap dress because I ran out of clothes and they were sweaty and raunchy.

This is an example of our days in the boys dorm:

Lacy, enjoying our time hiding from Tropical Storm Isaac

Shelby and I were also supposed to have our grad class on Saturday morning. We were concerned because we didn't have our books or anything, none of our homework done and the girl dorms were locked up. So we asked the coordinator, Linda, about it. She said with completely certainty that classes began on Monday because all of the students went home. Come to find out, as we hung around and did nothing on Saturday, that no...we actually missed our GRAD class that meets once a week.

Scoreboard? Communication- 3 Puerto Rico - 0

It was really good to get back, to have a working refrigerator, a functioning toilet... oh wait. We STILL don't. Haha.

As you know the avocados here are absolutely amazing. We decided the only thing that would make us feel better is some good guacamole. Here we have four avocados (yes only 4...they are ginormous), onion, tomato, adobo (Puerto Rican seasoning), salt, pepper, and some lime. Literally the best/cheapest guacamole of my entire life.

Found a pot for $1.99...Now to get a bowl....

So we got through another week of classes. Still pretty stressful, but I think I'm handling it better than I did when I first got here.

I went to a bible study in Spanish on Wednesday that was pretty cool. I kept up pretty well. I got ahold of Spanish bible and I would have been able to keep up better if there was any lighting. It was still cool. I started getting the hang of the songs. I wish they'd pass out lyrics or something!

Also on Sunday, I went to a local church, off of campus. This was a lot harder for me to follow. They were on this stage thing and they were talking into a muffled microphone and I was pretty much lost. However, here is a story you might enjoy... This is what I hear during the service:

"Blah.. blahh blah blahh.... blah blah.. blah.... Courneeh Peteersuuun???" My heart STOPPED. I hit Drew on her leg..
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, Drew? Did you hear that???? They just said my name!!"
Everyone at the church service started looking around. I didn't know what to do! I just froze! Alvero, the guy sitting in front of my turned around and gave me a look, so I put my hand in the air and waved a little. Hahahah Oh shoot. I'm laughing right now thinking about it. She said something in microphone I didn't understand. I looked around. "Nombre! Nombre!" the people around me said.
"Oh! Courtney!" I said. Didn't she just say that?
She asked me if I understood Spanish. I gave her a shrug. "Mas o menos..." I told her. She welcomed me and Drew and tried talking to us in broken English for a minute. Inside, I was like BEGGING for her to return to her announcements. I guess that's a thing they do to newbies? Ahhh finally she started talking about something else and all eyes were off us. Thanks for putting me on the spot CHURCH.

On Thursday, the other exchange girls and I, (minus Christine) decided to dress up and go to a nice restaurant. We went and got tapas and this place called "Tapas Cafe" It was such a fun girls night out. We got a glass of wine and some amazing food. It was fun getting dressed up with my ladies.

Here's a little intro to the other gringas! (again, minus Christine)

Shelby Baker, originally from the suburbs of Chitown
My roomie, and another Spanish TESOL lady at UNI:)

Drew- Love her!
Originally from California
Goes to school in Texas to run track:)

And miss Lacy:) :) Muah!
From Wisconsin!
Also studies in Wisconsin

That leads us to today! I know the Iowa - Iowa State battle is this weekend so I decided to represent my hawks!!

Whoop whoop!!

My mom is coming in 2 weeks! I getting really excited. We have a lot of fun things planned. Oh my boyyyyfraaaaand gets here 4 weeks from Saturday!

I have my first Spanish Lit homework due today and my first quiz in my Language and Reading class and I am Freaking out. That's right. With a capital F. Haha. Dame suerte! (Wish me luck ;) )

Miss you all! 

Keep in touch!