I was a HUGE Corey Hart fan in the 1980s. I had “Boy in the Box” and “Fields of Fire” on vinyl, and “First Offence” on tape. I never invested in another Corey Hart album after that time period…
Fast forward 30 years, yes 30 years, and here is the first Corey Hart single in 10 years.
Corey is expected to announce, on Wednesday, a big concert in Toronto. Come hell or high water, Scott and I will be at that concert.
Please nominate Gavin licking my nose to the Internet Cat Video Film Fest!
Here is the URL to my video which you’ll need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxEJb2hq0-U
This is my second last night in Uruguay for this trip and I am glad to be going home. Three weeks is a long time down here.
Admittedly, I am kind of tired of:
At the same time I know I am going to miss:
I just want to see my husband, cats, family, drive my car, a public transit system, a bath tub I fit in, a hot tub for my back, not be locked in to a compound, my bed, familiar things…
How cool is this? Satellite Internet from the Buquebus – Juan Patricio? 🙂
Usually when I travel it’s usually with some degree of confidence. But with the big bang of the last trip and being a bit more vigilant, not speaking the language fully, and some of the fears people had mentioned to me – pick pockets and the streets not being that safe here in Buenos Aires, I decided to play it safe.
Now that I know the lay of the land, the next trip will be that much better.
This city is spectacular! It’s a gorgeous city, much like a combination of New York, London, Paris and various cities in Spain, yet it’s own flavor.
La comida-Excellente!
Thanks to Gustavo, Roberto and Luke for showing me around.
Tomorrow – a 3 hour ferry ride to Montevideo. I will post pictures when I get back to Montevideo. In the meantime, Buens Aires, I will be back.
As Scott wrote on Facebook:
So… on this day (June 27th), in the early afternoon, exactly 15 years ago, I met my bear (Iain Bennett). We had chatted a bit on-line and he thought I was a bit of a creep (gasp!), but I guess he took his anti-creep pills that day, and the rest is history. Thank you Mr.Bear for 15 wonderful, love-filled, fun (and sometimes not so much), and challenging years. Thank you for being the one that was alway quietly humming and LIVING out the words of “I am by Your Side” to me, even when it was hard for me to hear….and always pointing me towards “Never Surrender”. May we continue to love and grow and share together for many years to come. Happy “official” Anniversary. 🙂
and then further…
We consider our “anniversary” as the date we met. We officially started dating sometime in August…. but in the distance of time neither of us could remember what the date was…. so we use this one instead. The actual date was June 27th, the “event” that it occurred in conjunction with is the Dyke March during Pride. Not married yet.
Well, the video below is my response. *GRIN*
Here is a direct link to the video (M4V format). This page uses HTML5.
YouTube:
By the way, I highly recommend 1Love featuring Corey Hart – The Truth Will Set U Free
So the last trip ended with a… bang. HAHAHA! Alright, I had to get that funny out of the way. Meanwhile, at home, Scott broke his pinky finger and was put into a cast. Fingers crossed that he is out of the cast this Friday in time for Toronto Pride.
On Tuesday, I made my way back down to Uruguay for three weeks this time staying in the sleepy resort town of Carrasco. I achieved Air Canada Top Tier Prestige status about 200km out of Toronto. When I get back from Montevideo, I will have achieved AC Top Tier Elite. YEAH! My first time doing so – Lounge Access, Preboarding and the ability to use my upgrade miles on trips like going to Uruguay. Mmm… lie flat beds.
I am walking a lot – 15 minutes to get dinner and 15 minutes back every day, and I plan to walk to work on Monday and Tuesday as the one office is only about 4km away. The other requires at taxi ride or a drive.
The trip is going well – it has been quite sunny and it’s a beautiful sunny day today. About 18C, feeling 16C. The first trip to establish yourself in a foreign country is always tough. This time I feel much more at home.
The hotel is the Regency Rambla which is a modern hotel, really nice, opened in 2011. It is much closer to the two offices, traffic is not as bad and you can see around corners. US$100 to US$149 per night. I don’t have a view of the Rio Plata, but my view is not bad – and nicer than the Sheraton at US$229 a night.
Needless to say, I am choosing not to drive – also given how expensive it is, it is cheaper to cab. Let’s see… 2 days a week at Zonamerica is US$50 per day in taxis. US$100 per week, $300 total.
The two car rentals I had – one was about US$400 for the week, the other around US$500. So it’s cost effective.
Carrasco is a resort town from the 1930s. People from Montevideo would live in Carrasco during the summer. It was somewhat left in the 1950s and it undergoing a resurgence. There is a BEAUTIFUL hotel that is being renovated by Sofitel – it should be spectacular.
The architecture here is amazing, and looks like it’s from the 1960s, and really well maintained. I’ve already picked out a few that I would love to own. LOL
I am going to spend Pride and Canada Day weekend in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Something I am looking forward to. The Hotel Axel was recommended to me – it’s a ‘Heterofriendly’ hotel. A nice twist on being gay friendly.
Pride weekend is my 15th anniversary with Scott. Since we won’t be together, I took him to Rodeo which is a Brazilian restaurant in Toronto at Danforth and Broadview. The food was amazing, and I can’t say I’ve had better meat on swords.
When I get back – Uruguayos food!
This will also be the first Pride in 16 years I completely miss and the third time I will have not marched (1995, 2010 and 2012).
I will be back in July. In the meantime, I’m going to do my best to enjoy things.
It’s the end of the weekend here in Montevideo and I can’t say I’ve done that much. LOL
First was the drive home from work:
If there are no lane markings, drivers on the street drive everywhere. It can be challenging, but I did it successfully. Now I understand why taxis take the route by the ocean.
I spent Saturday working and in the afternoon I decided to go for a 10km walk through the city where I went through the downtown area, what I believe is called “Centro” at the meeting of “18 de Julio” and “Contstituyente”.
Since it was the afternoon, I had missed the shops being open – they often close around 1pm on Saturdays, and it was very quiet in the streets. Everyone was off for their siestas, having lunch, etc…
It was neat seeing how relatively lively the streets were on my walk back around 6pm.
Everyone must have been laughing at me walking in shorts given it’s autumn down here, with trees going bare and leaves falling. In some respects it does suck that I am going through two winters this year. 🙂
Sunday, I literally did nothing. I really needed to catch up on sleep so I pretty much slept all day. I decided to try the Restaurante la Pasiva which is kind of a ‘cafeteria’ like fast food experience. I had the Chevito Canadiense con Pollo – which was a sandwich with lettuce, egg, cheese, tomato with back bacon and chicken. It was tasty and hit the spot. It came with papas fritas – french fries. They are also known for their panchos – hot dogs. Admittedly, I’m not sure I’ve seen a table of older women eat so many hot dogs – averaging two each, until today. Next, I need to try a Milanesa.
Another cultural thing – I really like how relaxed food service is here in Montevideo. It does feel a bit odd, given we often like really fast and quick food service in North America. It’s been fun just to sit back and relax and restauranteurs are happy to let you do that, and use wifi.
I stopped in at Disco – which is a Supermercado – a Supermarket chain here in Montevideo to pick up a few things that I needed.
And now I’m going between watching Brazilian football (soccer), CNN in Spanish, and BBC World.
Quisiera alquilar un auto…
Today started with adventures in renting a car. I decided that I needed more independence to get around – I don’t like being dependent on coworkers, and others.
Other than the last part of the transaction, we did it all in Spanish and the guy was really good at annunciating and speaking slowly. I’m such a gringo.
Here is my car for a week – a Suzuki Celerio (known as the Alto in other markets). It’s a cute small car:
I’m struggling with the language and that’s okay. I am also tired and need a good sleep in, so that is factoring with my ability to take in learning. I have to admit, I’m beating myself up for the lost opportunity in Managua to really learn Spanish from my nieces and nephews, especially talking and listening which is really what I need now. My reading is not too bad and I have Google Translate to help, and that is actually helping me to learn.
Another trick I am using is, using the Spanish autocorrect. I type part of a word I’m thinking of, it autofills to a point and then I add the correct ending. It’s actually quite brilliant, and lets me learn and guess as I learn the language.
At lunch, Juan, one of my co-workers said that he would work with me on speaking and listening. Yay! I know my cousin Tim has also wanted to help – the problem has been I’m not often in a place where I can sit and think when he pings me on BBM. And this is something where I need to stop for an hour and actually think and learn and absorb.
Anyway, I survived getting to work – took me an hour. Ruta 8 through the city is NOT the way to go. The route next to the ocean and through Carrasco is the way to go. It’s faster.
People drive everywhere in this city. I mean, when you’re driving in what you think is a lane… people don’t drive in lanes. Now, I’ve heard about this in other countries, I’ve just not experienced it first hand. I was laughing my way back to the hotel.
Another curious thing, and I understand why it is done – they have speed bumps on what looks to be a fairly major and fast road. Well they’re traffic calming zones because there are definitely more pedestrian-oriented areas. In short, people crossing the street everywhere, I nearly ran over a dog, and horse & buggies riding down the street. It’s an interesting cross-section of cultures here, much like what I felt in Managua, just different.
Tomorrow, I will get out and explore the city in daylight and do a bit of work. I hate having things hanging over my head – self imposed, really.
BTW – I forgot how much I enjoy driving stick. A LOT of fun!
And now two pieces of music I’m dancing away to:
Hola! Me llamo es Iain. Estoy viviendo en Montevideo por 2 a 3 meses. Yo soy de Canadá. Es un gusto conocerle!
I arrived in Montevideo yesterday at 4:30pm yesterday and by 9:00pm I was in bed. Between flying over, what, 10,000km from SF to Toronto to Santiago to Montevideo in 24 hours caught up with me.
I am back somewhere between Eastern Time and Atlantic Time, the time zone that Montevideo is in.
Montevideo is a really nice city. It’s safe and has all the amenities that you would want. The Zonamerica where I am working is a neat self-contained, free trade zone in Uruguay where you can conduct negocios (business en español). They have everything you need, and it doesn’t feel like you’re in a remote area of the greater Montevideo region.
So far I’m batting 1 for 2 in ordering good. I tried ordering salad for dinner last night, even said, “Ensalada”, and I got a chicken sandwich. I don’t think my Spanish is *that* bad. But hey, I did get the open faced queso, jamon y tomato sandwich that I ordered for dinner.
I will say, if there is one thing I learned today – it truly is a fact that Uruguayans do go to dinner late tonight. I was hoping for the salad bar at the restaurant tonight and it wasn’t being setup until about 9:00pm tonight. Which leads me to another realization about food and the culture here. Lots of people say that we should eat more meals and smaller portions. Well, have something early morning when you get up, have something at 10am, lunch at 1pm, tea at 4pm and dinner at 8/9pm… it works, and that seems to be the culture here.
Maté is definitely part of the culture as well – although only one person I know has been drinking it at work. I definitely need to find myself a thermos, a cup and a metal straw. *GRIN* Uruguayans are hardcore with their maté – They say that Argentineans like adding sugar to sweeten it, where Uruguayans take it straight. Nice!
And another thing has come to light. Uruguay is to Argentina as Canada is to the United States. It’s a friendly rivalry – I think – and I’m definitely rooting more for Uruguay.
Language-wise, I’m starting to mix up my French and Spanish. It’s amazing how shy I am feeling about talking to people, it’s not like I’m going to say something wrong – okay I might get the wrong food, but hey, that’s the fun of being heard.
I am going to be conducting training for my new co-workers here in Uruguay. The goal for me is to develop slides in Spanish, and I may try my hand at attempting to use as much Spanish as possible as a chance to learn.
On that note, a musical interlude from Pet Shop Boys –
Abrazos todos!