When I first arrived to this tiny country of just over three million people at the end of February, I felt like the only person without a social network. What I was feeling is really pretty common among exchange students; in fact, it's expected that they will feel lonely at first and as if they didn’t know a single soul in their entire host country. Rarely is this impression ever as grave as it may seem at first. However, in a country as small as Uruguay, where over half of the population lives in one major city and family members reside within blocks of one another, it became even more evident that everyone already knew everyone else and that I, sadly, did not. Thankfully, I’m finally starting to find my place among the Uruguayans.
For example, Flor, the woman I live with, her son Lucas, and I go to Flor’s parents’ house every Sunday for a family dinner. Flor is from a large family of five children, who are all adults now and have children of their own. Needless to say, our dinners are loud but jovial, and I’m really starting to feel like just another member of the family. In fact, Flor’s mother Margarita affectionately refers to me as her adopted daughter and jokes that I speak better Spanish than her other children.
(Here I am with Margarita and Enrique, enjoying the fire).At tonight’s dinner, we tried thinking of all the expressions in Spanish that use the word “hand,” or mano. There are lots if you really stop to think about it: mano derecha, right-hand man (er, person); mano de obra, work force; manos a la obra, get to work; and so on.
All in all, I think it’s pretty clear that “hacemos buenas migas.” I’ll let you look up that one on your own…
