So, I was going to structure this entry differently, as I realized there are more similarities and differences to note (and thus, I thought a Part II was in order), but in light of recent events, I decided to take a different approach.
On Monday night, I fell prey to something that happens quite frequently around here and while I could take the easy way out and not broadcast it to all my readers out there so as not to cause any alarm, there are other issues it raises that I think are worth mentioning (but still, I hope it doesn´t cause alarm -- I´m not worried about it, so you shouldn´t be, either). Anyway, what happened was that my cell phone got stolen. Right out of my pocket. Brazilians worry about this on a day-to-day basis, and so when they go out, a lot of people don´t bother taking their cell phones, but since that night I was going to be meeting up with people, I thought that it would make the most sense to take it with me. It was an old cell phone anyway (I didn´t buy it in Brazil) and it didn´t have much money left on it, but it is just an annoyance in itself that it happened.
One of the issues it highlights is the class differences that are present in Salvador. It is really very noticeable -- the middle/higher classes seem richer than they are and the lower classes seem that much poorer. On my way to school, I pass an average of two people sleeping on the street (and many more throughout the course of the day), and it is not uncommon to see people carefully selecting seven-course meals out of sidewalk dumpsters at any given point during the day. I live in an area called Campo Grande (which is a fine area of town), and I walk through two other neighborhoods to get to school, passing all sorts of people along the way -- people going to work, people selling fruit, other students, etc. One of those other neighborhoods has mansions and health-conscious joggers (that´s how my guidebook describes them) who are out running when I am walking to school. Even generally in the city, you (or, I suppose, I) come across all kinds of people on a daily basis -- ranging from the taxi drivers who blast Brazil´s latest top 40 songs, to the (friendly) transvestites who hang around Pelourinho and ask if they can give me hair weaves (I have yet to be convinced)...But anyway, moving on....
***
Now I´ll backtrack a bit to where I left off last time....
Sunday, I ended up going to this beachfront restaurant called Caranguejo do Farol (Crab of the Lighthouse) with Auana (host sister) and two of her friends. We spent a few hours there, hammering crabs and whatnot. Later, I met my Praia do Forte group (Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), Jamilly (Brazil), and Tatiana (Brazil)) at the movies and we saw ´´Love in the Time of Cholera.´´ It was great timing, really, because I finished the book the day before, and I always like reading the book before watching the movie when considering books I want to read. Then, since we saw the movie at the Alliance Française, we got crêpes and ice cream at their restaurant after the movie.
Monday turned out to be different from most school days, since one teacher at the school was sick, and three new kids joined the school, so there was a teacher shortage, and since now I am the only person in my class, the school needed Tatiana to teach the class...so I agreed to let them ´´borrow´´ Tatiana for the day, which meant I didn´t have class. (Since I am alone in my class, I don´t have five full days of classes anyway, so I just took one of my ´´off´´ days on Monday.) Because I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with some people who *did* have class, I ended up in search of air conditioning. Next stop? Shopping mall a 15-minute walk away! Easy way to kill a few hours...and closest A/C around. Then, in the afternoon, I went with Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), and Marcelo (Brazil -- teacher) to pick up our T-shirts for Carnaval, which was a ways away. Thankfully, Marcelo offered to drive us. Afterwards, we went to a nearby shopping area and got lunch and walked around there for a bit.
It was at night that the trouble came...I met Sheberon (Sweden) and Beth (UK) for dinner before Cortejo Afro (the same ´´show´´ we went to last Monday night, but this one was to be the last one of the year, because after Carnaval, all of these ´´shows´´ stop, uh, ´´showing´´), and then afterwards we headed toward the party. Since this show was the last of the year, though, the streets were PACKED and it was hard to move just to get into the place, but since we were to meet up with Tatiana beforehand, we were waiting outside. I put my hand in my pocket to get my phone to call her, and that´s when I noticed it wasn´t there. I went back to the restaurant to see if it was there, but to no avail. Since I didn´t get my phone in Brazil, though, my phone didn´t have a Portuguese language function, and since very few people here speak English, I can at least rest assured that whomever it was that stole my phone had a nice little wake-up call at 6:17am the following day. (It´s always the little things that make you happy.) We ended up meeting up with Rômulo, who got in touch with Tatiana, so everything worked out fine. And, in the interest of letting things go that you just have no control over, we went into the show and had fun anyway. (There was also a guest appearance from Daniela Mercury, a Brazilian singer who is well known in Bahia.)
Tuesday, I had class as scheduled, just me and Tatiana. I spent the latter part of the afternoon hanging out with my capoeira friends in Pelourinho, and one can tell that Carnaval is quickly approaching because the city is getting more packed by the day. There were a ton of people watching the capoeira guys, so I didn´t even ask to play drums. It was fun watching, though.
Today was a regular day of class, lunch, dance class, etc. The days seem to fly by these days, and the closer it gets to Carnaval, the more the locals think I am a tourist and just here for Carnaval...kind of annoying, but I suppose it makes sense that they would guess that.
***
Other things worth noting (the Part II from the last entry):
*In the U.S., we pay in installments for big purchases -- houses, cars, furniture, etc. In Brazil, you can pay for clothes in installments, too....
Whenever I go to charge my credit card for things, I have the option to divide that by 1, 2, 3, or 4..or something like that. You can´t pay in installments for everything (like restaurants), but sometimes for clothes and other things, you can. It´s just so weird (sorry, not weird....´´different´´) seeing a sign that says R$11 (equivalent of ~$5 USD) and thinking, ´´Hooray! What a bargain!´´ and then realizing that it´s probably really $20 and that the fine print most likely says x4 or something to that effect. What a bizarre-o system. I´ve had to get in the habit of telling the cashiers to just divide things by one.
*In the U.S., toilet paper goes in the toilet. In Brazil, it doesn´t.
The water system can´t handle it, so you have to throw it out in garbage cans right next to the toilet. Weird to get used to ...no, sorry...not weird..just ´´different.´´ Different culture, different customs. And when you live abroad, you have to get used to the way people do things with respect to their own contexts.
*In the U.S., you pay for the bus when you get on the bus (at the front). In Brazil, this is not necessarily the case.
There are three options. 1) You can get on at the front of the bus and pay immediately. 2) You can get on at the front of the bus and pay on your way out. 3) You can get on at the back of the bus and pay immediately (and then when you leave the bus, you exit through the front). (Note: You do not have a choice in the matter. It just depends what bus you take.) It is also important to point out that what makes this process infinitely more annoying is that there is a turnstile at the back/front of the bus, depending on where the checkpoint is.
***
Okay, well that concludes today´s entry on lessons learned from the rua (street). So y´all be careful out there, and be sure to keep your hands in your pockets.
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
(PS For all of you who think I am cell phone-less and thus I am no longer a functioning member of society, a) shame on you for having such an attitude. You should take four months off and go travel and b) I am actually now back in business with a cell phone and have the same phone number I had before.)
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Livin´ la vida loca, it´s time for a lesson in cultural differences
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both show foreign films.
Difference:
In Brazil, when you watch a foreign film whose characters aren´t English-speaking, it really tests your Portuguese....
On Wednesday, I went to the movies with Angela (USA) and Greg (USA) and we saw ´´A Vida Dos Outros´´ (The Lives of Others), a German film. In the U.S., that film would be in German with English subtitles, but since I´m not in the U.S., it was in German with Portuguese subtitles. Since, when you watch a movie whose language is different from your own, you come to rely on the subtitles, but after awhile, I forgot the subtitles were in Portuguese. Though there were many vocabulary words I had not yet come across, the beauty of film and second language acquisition provides that you can use the context of the film to help you understand the words themselves. All of that aside, though, that theater had *great* air conditioning. And our movie snacks (chocolate cookies with a coconut milk center -- a la oreos) were delicious.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have stores.
Difference:
In Brazil, you *can´t* return things.
A few days ago, I passed by a store near the beach. I bought a dress. I wasn´t sure what I thought about it, and the woman who worked there knew it, so I asked her if it would be possible to return it..like, if, say, I brought it home, decided I didn´t want it, and wanted to bring it back. When I asked her, I used the word ´´devolver´´ (to return). She told me that yes, it would be possible to ´´trocar´´ (to change, exchange). My understanding was that since she had said yes, there would be no problem. However, when I went back the following day to return it, a different salesperson informed me that no one anywhere in Brazil returns anything -- it´s just not the custom. It´s possible to ´´trocar´´ but not to ´´devolver´´ -- and several Portuguese words that all of my teachers have taught me but have also told me never to say that they have taught me came rushing to mind, but I just said ok thanks and left.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both offer classes for aerobic activities.
Difference:
In Brazil, it is possible to get free capoeira lessons under government buildings and then a protest circle forms around you, thereby forcing the lesson to end after about 45 minutes.
Thursday, I went to Pelourinho with a few people to check out some museums. Afterwards, I went to meet up with my new capoeira friends to maybe get some drumming in for the day. A few of them were late in getting to the praça, however, so everyone was just hanging around. Since they weren´t really doing anything, one of them told me he was going to teach me capoeira (since I had kept saying that I don´t do capoeira, that I´m simply incapable, as I´m no gymnast whatsoever) and he brought me to a nearby praça (where there are fewer bystanders) to teach me. But because it started to rain, we had to seek shelter elsewhere, so we went underneath this goverment building (which is elevated, so we were still above ground), where a whole bunch of other people had also sought shelter. A paved floor and lots of space meant that the lesson could continue...the only problem? It was raining outside, and lots of people were around...but, in the interest of ´´who the hell cares,´´ the lesson continued for a good half hour or 45 minutes or so....until a group of protestors came in and formed a circle around us and chanting whatever it was that they wanted from the government. It was kind of funny, though, because a big part of capoeira is the roda , the circle that forms around the two people who are participating, and their circle had nothing to do with capoeira. I never did get to play the drums that day, but I´ll save that for another day.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have dance clubs.
Difference:
In Brazil, a lot of them are outdoor arena types that you go to with your teacher-friends.
Thursday night, a bunch of us went to the Museu de Ritmo for another ´´show´´ (read: a bunch of music groups playing until the early morming hours where everyone participates and you don´t just watch...aka dance party). I think I could get used to this.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have trees and fruits.
Difference:
Brazil is the only place where I have witnessed a mango falling from a tree only 10 yards or so away. (It makes a <> sound.)
I was walking to school Friday morning and, well, see above. It fell in the street and didn´t hit any cars (or me).
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil wear clothes for fashion and/or for comfort.
Difference:
In Brazil, people wear clothes (or lack thereof) also because of logistics -- it´s just *too* hot to wear fabric.
After dance class on Friday, I met up with Jamilly (a teacher at my school) and she took me to one of her favorite stores to go shopping for Carnaval clothes. We spent two hours in that store and since she knows all the people who work there (she´s been going there for years), they kept bringing things out of the back for me to try on (they make a lot of clothes in the store) and they kind of made me their project. It was fun! And I walked out of the store feeling (and maybe looking?) just a little bit more Brazilian. I wonder if it (and I?) will fly in the U.S.
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil sometimes look to have a low-key, early night.
Difference:
In Brazil, that´s just not possible.
Friday night, a bunch of people went out in honor of the last night of a few kids at the school. We went out to dinner and then weren´t sure what to do, so we went walking along this street by the beach. While we were walking, we encountered a street party, where they were playing all kinds of music (mostly percussion-based, as usual), and a lot of the people (guys, mostly) had boys´ underwear (not boxer-type) on their heads. Still not sure what the point of the party was, and one group of people was walking with a donkey, and even the donkey had a pair of undies on his head. After we walked with the masses for several blocks, jamming to the beats, we grabbed a cab to another neighborhood in the city and ended up at this club until the early hours of the morning. Then, when we left the club, the five of us (by this time our group had split up since at the street party we all got separated and we lost the other half) went around the corner to get ´´cachorrãos´´ -- BIG hot dogs (cachorro = dog, cachorrão = big dog!) with lots of toppings. Made for a great 3am snack.
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil take road trips, which can be lots of fun.
Difference:
In Brazil, it doesn´t seem weird to provide the road trip music with your teacher.
After getting home around 4 on Saturday morning, I had time for a couple hours of shut-eye, as I had to wake up early to get ready for a road trip out of the city, to Praia do Forte, a beach north of Salvador. I ended up going with Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), Jamilly (Brazil -- teacher), and Tatiana (Brazil -- teacher), and we took Jamilly´s car there. We got there around 10am and spent the whole day there. We had moqueca for lunch, saw turtles (they have a project going on there having to do with sea turtles -- so cute!), got ice cream, and spent the whole rest of the day relaxing on the beach and swimming. Praia do Forte itself is about an hour and 20 minutes or so away from Salvador, but Tatiana and I provided the musical entertainment for the car ride, so the time passed pretty quickly (I wonder if it passed as quickly for the other passengers in our car!). As of now (that is, unless someone else joins), I will be the only student in my class next week, since Friday was the last day of class for both Arina (Romania) and Sabina (Switzerland). That means, I have class with my partner-in-crime next week..how fun is that?
Today (Sunday), it´s a beautiful day out (go figure), so there´s a world of possibilities of things to do....so, while the internet cafe is one option, when you´re in a place such as this, it cannot always be top of the list. So, desculpe (sorry), but for now, the time has come to say tchau (ciao).
-----
abraços,
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
The U.S. and Brazil both show foreign films.
Difference:
In Brazil, when you watch a foreign film whose characters aren´t English-speaking, it really tests your Portuguese....
On Wednesday, I went to the movies with Angela (USA) and Greg (USA) and we saw ´´A Vida Dos Outros´´ (The Lives of Others), a German film. In the U.S., that film would be in German with English subtitles, but since I´m not in the U.S., it was in German with Portuguese subtitles. Since, when you watch a movie whose language is different from your own, you come to rely on the subtitles, but after awhile, I forgot the subtitles were in Portuguese. Though there were many vocabulary words I had not yet come across, the beauty of film and second language acquisition provides that you can use the context of the film to help you understand the words themselves. All of that aside, though, that theater had *great* air conditioning. And our movie snacks (chocolate cookies with a coconut milk center -- a la oreos) were delicious.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have stores.
Difference:
In Brazil, you *can´t* return things.
A few days ago, I passed by a store near the beach. I bought a dress. I wasn´t sure what I thought about it, and the woman who worked there knew it, so I asked her if it would be possible to return it..like, if, say, I brought it home, decided I didn´t want it, and wanted to bring it back. When I asked her, I used the word ´´devolver´´ (to return). She told me that yes, it would be possible to ´´trocar´´ (to change, exchange). My understanding was that since she had said yes, there would be no problem. However, when I went back the following day to return it, a different salesperson informed me that no one anywhere in Brazil returns anything -- it´s just not the custom. It´s possible to ´´trocar´´ but not to ´´devolver´´ -- and several Portuguese words that all of my teachers have taught me but have also told me never to say that they have taught me came rushing to mind, but I just said ok thanks and left.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both offer classes for aerobic activities.
Difference:
In Brazil, it is possible to get free capoeira lessons under government buildings and then a protest circle forms around you, thereby forcing the lesson to end after about 45 minutes.
Thursday, I went to Pelourinho with a few people to check out some museums. Afterwards, I went to meet up with my new capoeira friends to maybe get some drumming in for the day. A few of them were late in getting to the praça, however, so everyone was just hanging around. Since they weren´t really doing anything, one of them told me he was going to teach me capoeira (since I had kept saying that I don´t do capoeira, that I´m simply incapable, as I´m no gymnast whatsoever) and he brought me to a nearby praça (where there are fewer bystanders) to teach me. But because it started to rain, we had to seek shelter elsewhere, so we went underneath this goverment building (which is elevated, so we were still above ground), where a whole bunch of other people had also sought shelter. A paved floor and lots of space meant that the lesson could continue...the only problem? It was raining outside, and lots of people were around...but, in the interest of ´´who the hell cares,´´ the lesson continued for a good half hour or 45 minutes or so....until a group of protestors came in and formed a circle around us and chanting whatever it was that they wanted from the government. It was kind of funny, though, because a big part of capoeira is the roda , the circle that forms around the two people who are participating, and their circle had nothing to do with capoeira. I never did get to play the drums that day, but I´ll save that for another day.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have dance clubs.
Difference:
In Brazil, a lot of them are outdoor arena types that you go to with your teacher-friends.
Thursday night, a bunch of us went to the Museu de Ritmo for another ´´show´´ (read: a bunch of music groups playing until the early morming hours where everyone participates and you don´t just watch...aka dance party). I think I could get used to this.
Similarity:
The U.S. and Brazil both have trees and fruits.
Difference:
Brazil is the only place where I have witnessed a mango falling from a tree only 10 yards or so away. (It makes a <
I was walking to school Friday morning and, well, see above. It fell in the street and didn´t hit any cars (or me).
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil wear clothes for fashion and/or for comfort.
Difference:
In Brazil, people wear clothes (or lack thereof) also because of logistics -- it´s just *too* hot to wear fabric.
After dance class on Friday, I met up with Jamilly (a teacher at my school) and she took me to one of her favorite stores to go shopping for Carnaval clothes. We spent two hours in that store and since she knows all the people who work there (she´s been going there for years), they kept bringing things out of the back for me to try on (they make a lot of clothes in the store) and they kind of made me their project. It was fun! And I walked out of the store feeling (and maybe looking?) just a little bit more Brazilian. I wonder if it (and I?) will fly in the U.S.
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil sometimes look to have a low-key, early night.
Difference:
In Brazil, that´s just not possible.
Friday night, a bunch of people went out in honor of the last night of a few kids at the school. We went out to dinner and then weren´t sure what to do, so we went walking along this street by the beach. While we were walking, we encountered a street party, where they were playing all kinds of music (mostly percussion-based, as usual), and a lot of the people (guys, mostly) had boys´ underwear (not boxer-type) on their heads. Still not sure what the point of the party was, and one group of people was walking with a donkey, and even the donkey had a pair of undies on his head. After we walked with the masses for several blocks, jamming to the beats, we grabbed a cab to another neighborhood in the city and ended up at this club until the early hours of the morning. Then, when we left the club, the five of us (by this time our group had split up since at the street party we all got separated and we lost the other half) went around the corner to get ´´cachorrãos´´ -- BIG hot dogs (cachorro = dog, cachorrão = big dog!) with lots of toppings. Made for a great 3am snack.
Similarity:
People in the U.S. and Brazil take road trips, which can be lots of fun.
Difference:
In Brazil, it doesn´t seem weird to provide the road trip music with your teacher.
After getting home around 4 on Saturday morning, I had time for a couple hours of shut-eye, as I had to wake up early to get ready for a road trip out of the city, to Praia do Forte, a beach north of Salvador. I ended up going with Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), Jamilly (Brazil -- teacher), and Tatiana (Brazil -- teacher), and we took Jamilly´s car there. We got there around 10am and spent the whole day there. We had moqueca for lunch, saw turtles (they have a project going on there having to do with sea turtles -- so cute!), got ice cream, and spent the whole rest of the day relaxing on the beach and swimming. Praia do Forte itself is about an hour and 20 minutes or so away from Salvador, but Tatiana and I provided the musical entertainment for the car ride, so the time passed pretty quickly (I wonder if it passed as quickly for the other passengers in our car!). As of now (that is, unless someone else joins), I will be the only student in my class next week, since Friday was the last day of class for both Arina (Romania) and Sabina (Switzerland). That means, I have class with my partner-in-crime next week..how fun is that?
Today (Sunday), it´s a beautiful day out (go figure), so there´s a world of possibilities of things to do....so, while the internet cafe is one option, when you´re in a place such as this, it cannot always be top of the list. So, desculpe (sorry), but for now, the time has come to say tchau (ciao).
-----
abraços,
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
But teacher, I couldn´t do my homework -- I was partying with you last night!
We left off last time on Monday right before dance class with Taty, and since it was a free class, a lot more people showed up than usual. This means it was funnier than usual because there were more people who had never showed up before and had even less of an idea of what they were doing than I. Another great workout, leading me to the conclusion that I just might have to seek out samba-reggae dance classes when I get back to the States. Any recommendations would thus be highly appreciated.
At night, a bunch of us had made plans to go to this show, called Cortejo Afro, which takes place every Monday in Pelourinho. I met up with Sheberon (Sweden) to go to Pelourinho beforehand to get dinner. We hung around there for awhile and ended up getting to the show early. It ended up being a whole group of people, students and teachers alike...but it is important to note that when the school day is over, no one is a student and no one is a teacher... and when the shows begin, the spectators become the spectacle and everyone is one and the same. Cortejo Afro´s style of music is basically percussion, and it´s best to get there early to stake out a good spot on the dance floor. We got there during the 8 o´clock hour and didn´t leave until well after 1. One random part of the evening occurred when my teacher (oh right, she´s not my teacher here...when my cool friend Tatiana) pulled me toward this one guy, and yelled (since talking wasn´t an option) if I wanted to meet Eagle Eye Cherry, a band whose CD I bought when I was in middle school (only because I knew one song of theirs, clearly). I couldn´t hear what she was saying and it was three seconds or so before we got there that I realized what she had said. So we get to where he was standing (he, like us, was just there to dance -- not to perform), and I ended up getting a picture with him. Apparently, the band is Swedish, so Sheberon (Sweden) was especially interested that they were there and talked to one of the band members in Swedish. It turns out that they had played a show in Rio, played one night at Festival de Verão last week, etc., and were still in town. It was an interesting run-in, but the highlight of the night was definitely the Cortejo Afro event itself. The following day in class, since Arina (Romania), Tatiana (Brazil -- teacher), and I had all been at the show (Sabina (Switzerland) had had to go out of town for the day, so she couldn´t go), class progressed at a slower pace since everyone was so tired.
Tuesday after class, I was supposed to have my first drum lesson in Pelourinho. I decided that, although the tambourine is cool, I really want to learn the drums..so I called the percussion school to set up a lesson, and I set it up for Tuesday with the teacher I was originally supposed to have, figuring that after my first lesson I would decide whether I would continue with the tambourine or with the drums. I showed up at the agreed-upon time, only to be told that I was not going to have a lesson because the guy couldn´t come...and then it turned out that right now they are not giving drum lessons at all since they are preparing for Carnaval. The guy then told me that they didn´t have my number to call me and let me know (which was a lie, since I watched this girl write it down in their planbook last week when we scheduled another tambourine lesson, which I ended up having to cancel). So, you see -- sometimes the Brazilian way is, indeed, frustrating. But don´t worry -- things turned around...
There is this main praça (plaza) in Pelourinho called Terreiro de Jesus that, whenever any of us meet in Pelourinho, we always meet by this praça. But, instead of calling it Terreiro de Jesus, a lot of times we refer to it as ´´the place where those capoeiristas´´ are. If we said that to just anyone, we would never meet up, because there are people doing capoeira *everywhere*, but these capoeiristas are just that good that it has become one of our collective personal landmarks. Also, there are always crowds of people that gather around to watch....and I am always one of those people....so anyway, since I didn´t know what to do after my non-lesson, I passed through that praça (which I would have to pass through to go to most places anyway), just as the capoeiristas were setting up. I was standing there watching from several yards away, and they called me over to do capoeira with them. Knowing how ´´well´´ I fare at capoeira, I told them I don´t do capoeira but I want to learn percussion. They indicated that I could play the tambourine. I said, well, it´s not that I want to learn -- it´s the drums. They said, ok, they´d teach me. So, I proceeded to spend the next three hours in the praça there with them, sometimes playing the drums, sometimes watching the drums be played (by people who could actually play), but they did manage to teach me a few of the basics. After they wrapped up their capoeira for the day, I think I may have actually secured drum lessons from one or two of them. Since I go by Terreiro de Jesus all the time, I´ll probably go back and see if they´ll teach me some more. (Actually, today in school, one girl told me she was in Pelourinho yesterday and passed by and saw me playing the drums!)...Another completely random encounter I had while I was at capoeira yesterday was that while I was watching, I met this girl from Argentina. In the course of our conversation, I found out that she is from Ushuaia, one of the places on my itinerary. Looks like I now know a total of *one* person there! And she´s already told me she´d show me around. Hooray for capoeira!
And now it´s Wednesday again, though it´s not necessary to introduce the concept of Hump Day (the idea that once you get over the hump (Wednesday), you coast to the weekend), since here every night could be a weekday or a weeknight and it just doesn´t matter.
On that note, it´s time to brush up on my samba-reggae, since Carnaval does start at the end of next week. So I hope all of you are putting on your dancing shoes and are getting ready to celebrate!
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
At night, a bunch of us had made plans to go to this show, called Cortejo Afro, which takes place every Monday in Pelourinho. I met up with Sheberon (Sweden) to go to Pelourinho beforehand to get dinner. We hung around there for awhile and ended up getting to the show early. It ended up being a whole group of people, students and teachers alike...but it is important to note that when the school day is over, no one is a student and no one is a teacher... and when the shows begin, the spectators become the spectacle and everyone is one and the same. Cortejo Afro´s style of music is basically percussion, and it´s best to get there early to stake out a good spot on the dance floor. We got there during the 8 o´clock hour and didn´t leave until well after 1. One random part of the evening occurred when my teacher (oh right, she´s not my teacher here...when my cool friend Tatiana) pulled me toward this one guy, and yelled (since talking wasn´t an option) if I wanted to meet Eagle Eye Cherry, a band whose CD I bought when I was in middle school (only because I knew one song of theirs, clearly). I couldn´t hear what she was saying and it was three seconds or so before we got there that I realized what she had said. So we get to where he was standing (he, like us, was just there to dance -- not to perform), and I ended up getting a picture with him. Apparently, the band is Swedish, so Sheberon (Sweden) was especially interested that they were there and talked to one of the band members in Swedish. It turns out that they had played a show in Rio, played one night at Festival de Verão last week, etc., and were still in town. It was an interesting run-in, but the highlight of the night was definitely the Cortejo Afro event itself. The following day in class, since Arina (Romania), Tatiana (Brazil -- teacher), and I had all been at the show (Sabina (Switzerland) had had to go out of town for the day, so she couldn´t go), class progressed at a slower pace since everyone was so tired.
Tuesday after class, I was supposed to have my first drum lesson in Pelourinho. I decided that, although the tambourine is cool, I really want to learn the drums..so I called the percussion school to set up a lesson, and I set it up for Tuesday with the teacher I was originally supposed to have, figuring that after my first lesson I would decide whether I would continue with the tambourine or with the drums. I showed up at the agreed-upon time, only to be told that I was not going to have a lesson because the guy couldn´t come...and then it turned out that right now they are not giving drum lessons at all since they are preparing for Carnaval. The guy then told me that they didn´t have my number to call me and let me know (which was a lie, since I watched this girl write it down in their planbook last week when we scheduled another tambourine lesson, which I ended up having to cancel). So, you see -- sometimes the Brazilian way is, indeed, frustrating. But don´t worry -- things turned around...
There is this main praça (plaza) in Pelourinho called Terreiro de Jesus that, whenever any of us meet in Pelourinho, we always meet by this praça. But, instead of calling it Terreiro de Jesus, a lot of times we refer to it as ´´the place where those capoeiristas´´ are. If we said that to just anyone, we would never meet up, because there are people doing capoeira *everywhere*, but these capoeiristas are just that good that it has become one of our collective personal landmarks. Also, there are always crowds of people that gather around to watch....and I am always one of those people....so anyway, since I didn´t know what to do after my non-lesson, I passed through that praça (which I would have to pass through to go to most places anyway), just as the capoeiristas were setting up. I was standing there watching from several yards away, and they called me over to do capoeira with them. Knowing how ´´well´´ I fare at capoeira, I told them I don´t do capoeira but I want to learn percussion. They indicated that I could play the tambourine. I said, well, it´s not that I want to learn -- it´s the drums. They said, ok, they´d teach me. So, I proceeded to spend the next three hours in the praça there with them, sometimes playing the drums, sometimes watching the drums be played (by people who could actually play), but they did manage to teach me a few of the basics. After they wrapped up their capoeira for the day, I think I may have actually secured drum lessons from one or two of them. Since I go by Terreiro de Jesus all the time, I´ll probably go back and see if they´ll teach me some more. (Actually, today in school, one girl told me she was in Pelourinho yesterday and passed by and saw me playing the drums!)...Another completely random encounter I had while I was at capoeira yesterday was that while I was watching, I met this girl from Argentina. In the course of our conversation, I found out that she is from Ushuaia, one of the places on my itinerary. Looks like I now know a total of *one* person there! And she´s already told me she´d show me around. Hooray for capoeira!
And now it´s Wednesday again, though it´s not necessary to introduce the concept of Hump Day (the idea that once you get over the hump (Wednesday), you coast to the weekend), since here every night could be a weekday or a weeknight and it just doesn´t matter.
On that note, it´s time to brush up on my samba-reggae, since Carnaval does start at the end of next week. So I hope all of you are putting on your dancing shoes and are getting ready to celebrate!
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Monday, January 21, 2008
It´s all relative, and relatives are great when they have a beach house on Itaparica
Do any of you have a case of the Mondays? I don´t! Although I guess, here, they would be a case of the ´´segundas´´...in any case, they don´t exist here...at least not for me.
Friday turned out to be a fun, random day. It started with class (as usual), including an announcement from Rômulo that that would be his last day with us. At my school, it is customary that the teachers rotate every couple of weeks so that the students get to know different teachers, different teaching styles, etc., and since we had had Rômulo for two weeks already, we would be getting a new teacher on Monday (today). After class, a bunch of us went out to lunch, and then Sheberon (Sweden) and I took a walk to the beach. Naturally, I was back at the school in time for dance class with Taty, which, as always, proved to be a fun time for all. (When each person laughs at him/herself outwardly, it is a lot easier for everyone to laugh with one another; hence, it is a very comfortable atmosphere even though no one knows what the hell to do!) Friday was also the last day of class for Favienne (France/Martinique), so at night, a bunch of people went out in her honor, including several students and three teachers. One of the teachers drove a few of the students, another of the teachers picked others of us up, and Rômulo met us there. We ended up going out for a late dinner, and then afterwards, they all drove us to this restaurant along the water (*not* frequented by tourists) that juts out into the middle of the ocean, and Marcelo (one of the teachers) ordered dessert for everyone. His only question beforehand was whether we like chocolate. Once he got the answer (yes), five minutes later, 9 of us were presented with warm chocolate cake with a liquid center accompanied by vanilla ice cream that was way more than *just* vanilla ice cream.
Saturday was an early start, so it was tough, but it was ok, because if you´re going to go to an island beach house, you need to allow time to get to the island! So, Eliene´s boyfriend, Rui, built a beach house a few years ago (they have been together for six years) on Ilha de Itaparica (one of the same islands that I went to last weekend on the tour). Eliene invited me to come and told me to bring a friend, so Greg (USA) and I decided to go for the day. We set out early on Saturday and were at the house by about 10am. We spent the day at the beach, baking at about 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit (though feel free to do the conversion to Celsius, if you prefer -- I´m just telling you how it felt), swimming, etc. Then toward the end of the day, we decided to check out Club Med, which is about 5 minutes away from the beach house. In order to get there (or at least the way we figured out how to get there), you need to climb down a couple of rocks and then wade through some water (about 5 minutes´ worth of crossing). When we got to the other side, it was (even more of) a tropical paradise. There was windsurfing, people selling things (though I guess we see that everywhere), really tall palm trees, etc. Oh, right, and security guards. We greeted them with a ´´boa tarde´´ (good afternoon) (they responded in kind) and we kept walking, our final destination being the hammocks resting comfortably in the forest of palm trees by the beach, where we could see not too far away people on the trapeze. I wanted to go on the trapeze but ultimately decided not to push my luck. Everyone at Club Med had bracelets, and we thought that maybe security guards in the distance had seen our bracelets that we had gotten at Bonfim. (Around the Festa do Bonfim, people always tie bracets on your wrist, and you are not supposed to take them off; rather, you are supposed to make one wish for every knot that is tied (three) and wait for the bracelet to fall off on its own. Fortunately, I have an orange one and a yellow one...maybe those mean all-inclusive Club Med from afar??) In any case, once we went back to the house, Rui and Eliene were surprised that we were able to just walk right into Club Med and thought it was because we were ´´gringos´´ that it seemed like we belonged there. Dammit...shoulda tried the trapeze....
Later on in the day, Rui started up the grill, and in Brazil, this cooking style is known as churrasco . Now, remember, before my trip, I was not much of a meat eater...but when I get back, I might have to alter my habits a bit. One thing at a time, but for now, that one thing is the churrasco. Of course, I didn´t ask what it was that I was eating, but suffice it to say that I know it was meat, and that alone is progress for me. After a leisurely dinner, it wasn´t really easy to make our way back to Salvador, so we ended up staying at the house with Rui and Eliene until Sunday after lunch, when we made our way back. (Something to note: It´s all relative...when I left the U.S. for Brazil, I found that the U.S. was complete chaos and the Bahian lifestyle is one that should make its way across the American borders. Now that I have left Salvador for Itaparica and spent some time there, I´ve gone one degree further and found that for a couple of days, it felt good to relax at the beach house...not that Salvador is all hectic all the time, but Itaparica was just a welcome break.... a weekend at the beach house, if you will!)
But alas, once back in Salvador, since the sun did take its toll on me, I couldn´t spend more time at the beach, so I met up with a few people to go to the movies at night. The four of us saw ´´Eu sou lenda´´ (I am Legend) (Will Smith movie), and it wasn´t anything like I imagined. Rômulo told us a couple of weeks ago that since a lot of people in Bahia don´t have air conditioning at home, they go to the movies. Going by that theory, it looks like I´m becoming just a little bit more Brazilian as time progresses, as my movie tally is now up to three and counting. (Plus, since I have a student ID, I get half price on my tickets...and at this one theater, when you buy a ticket, they give you a coupon for half-price on another ticket if you come back within 10 days...I happened to do that the last time, so I used my student ID *and* that coupon, and the price of my movie ticket ended up being a quarter of the going rate for the ticket!) Sometimes not having air conditioning really is a blast (but not a blast of A/C...).
Today, I had class with my new teacher, Tatiana (not the dance teacher), and she is great. Since it´s Monday, more people started at the school, but we didn´t get any additions to our class, which means we are still three. However, Sabina (Switzerland), who is having problems with her visa, had to go to São Paulo for a day or two, to talk to the Swiss consulate, so she wasn´t there, and then Arina (Romania/Australia) showed up a half hour or so late. So, I hung out with my teacher for the first half hour, forty-five minutes or so, and can safely say that she is just super-cool.
After class, a group of us went to get lunch and then today we have dance class with Taty (dance teacher, not teacher teacher). We don´t usually have it on Mondays, but every once in awhile, they offer a free class on Mondays, so that´s today.
Things continue to go well here, though. It is definitely strange that I am already well into my third week. Unfortunate, too, because that means I have less than a month to go (in Salvador)....but, since it ain´t over til it´s over, the only direction to go is forward.
That said, has anybody seen my caipirinha ?
abraços,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Friday turned out to be a fun, random day. It started with class (as usual), including an announcement from Rômulo that that would be his last day with us. At my school, it is customary that the teachers rotate every couple of weeks so that the students get to know different teachers, different teaching styles, etc., and since we had had Rômulo for two weeks already, we would be getting a new teacher on Monday (today). After class, a bunch of us went out to lunch, and then Sheberon (Sweden) and I took a walk to the beach. Naturally, I was back at the school in time for dance class with Taty, which, as always, proved to be a fun time for all. (When each person laughs at him/herself outwardly, it is a lot easier for everyone to laugh with one another; hence, it is a very comfortable atmosphere even though no one knows what the hell to do!) Friday was also the last day of class for Favienne (France/Martinique), so at night, a bunch of people went out in her honor, including several students and three teachers. One of the teachers drove a few of the students, another of the teachers picked others of us up, and Rômulo met us there. We ended up going out for a late dinner, and then afterwards, they all drove us to this restaurant along the water (*not* frequented by tourists) that juts out into the middle of the ocean, and Marcelo (one of the teachers) ordered dessert for everyone. His only question beforehand was whether we like chocolate. Once he got the answer (yes), five minutes later, 9 of us were presented with warm chocolate cake with a liquid center accompanied by vanilla ice cream that was way more than *just* vanilla ice cream.
Saturday was an early start, so it was tough, but it was ok, because if you´re going to go to an island beach house, you need to allow time to get to the island! So, Eliene´s boyfriend, Rui, built a beach house a few years ago (they have been together for six years) on Ilha de Itaparica (one of the same islands that I went to last weekend on the tour). Eliene invited me to come and told me to bring a friend, so Greg (USA) and I decided to go for the day. We set out early on Saturday and were at the house by about 10am. We spent the day at the beach, baking at about 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit (though feel free to do the conversion to Celsius, if you prefer -- I´m just telling you how it felt), swimming, etc. Then toward the end of the day, we decided to check out Club Med, which is about 5 minutes away from the beach house. In order to get there (or at least the way we figured out how to get there), you need to climb down a couple of rocks and then wade through some water (about 5 minutes´ worth of crossing). When we got to the other side, it was (even more of) a tropical paradise. There was windsurfing, people selling things (though I guess we see that everywhere), really tall palm trees, etc. Oh, right, and security guards. We greeted them with a ´´boa tarde´´ (good afternoon) (they responded in kind) and we kept walking, our final destination being the hammocks resting comfortably in the forest of palm trees by the beach, where we could see not too far away people on the trapeze. I wanted to go on the trapeze but ultimately decided not to push my luck. Everyone at Club Med had bracelets, and we thought that maybe security guards in the distance had seen our bracelets that we had gotten at Bonfim. (Around the Festa do Bonfim, people always tie bracets on your wrist, and you are not supposed to take them off; rather, you are supposed to make one wish for every knot that is tied (three) and wait for the bracelet to fall off on its own. Fortunately, I have an orange one and a yellow one...maybe those mean all-inclusive Club Med from afar??) In any case, once we went back to the house, Rui and Eliene were surprised that we were able to just walk right into Club Med and thought it was because we were ´´gringos´´ that it seemed like we belonged there. Dammit...shoulda tried the trapeze....
Later on in the day, Rui started up the grill, and in Brazil, this cooking style is known as churrasco . Now, remember, before my trip, I was not much of a meat eater...but when I get back, I might have to alter my habits a bit. One thing at a time, but for now, that one thing is the churrasco. Of course, I didn´t ask what it was that I was eating, but suffice it to say that I know it was meat, and that alone is progress for me. After a leisurely dinner, it wasn´t really easy to make our way back to Salvador, so we ended up staying at the house with Rui and Eliene until Sunday after lunch, when we made our way back. (Something to note: It´s all relative...when I left the U.S. for Brazil, I found that the U.S. was complete chaos and the Bahian lifestyle is one that should make its way across the American borders. Now that I have left Salvador for Itaparica and spent some time there, I´ve gone one degree further and found that for a couple of days, it felt good to relax at the beach house...not that Salvador is all hectic all the time, but Itaparica was just a welcome break.... a weekend at the beach house, if you will!)
But alas, once back in Salvador, since the sun did take its toll on me, I couldn´t spend more time at the beach, so I met up with a few people to go to the movies at night. The four of us saw ´´Eu sou lenda´´ (I am Legend) (Will Smith movie), and it wasn´t anything like I imagined. Rômulo told us a couple of weeks ago that since a lot of people in Bahia don´t have air conditioning at home, they go to the movies. Going by that theory, it looks like I´m becoming just a little bit more Brazilian as time progresses, as my movie tally is now up to three and counting. (Plus, since I have a student ID, I get half price on my tickets...and at this one theater, when you buy a ticket, they give you a coupon for half-price on another ticket if you come back within 10 days...I happened to do that the last time, so I used my student ID *and* that coupon, and the price of my movie ticket ended up being a quarter of the going rate for the ticket!) Sometimes not having air conditioning really is a blast (but not a blast of A/C...).
Today, I had class with my new teacher, Tatiana (not the dance teacher), and she is great. Since it´s Monday, more people started at the school, but we didn´t get any additions to our class, which means we are still three. However, Sabina (Switzerland), who is having problems with her visa, had to go to São Paulo for a day or two, to talk to the Swiss consulate, so she wasn´t there, and then Arina (Romania/Australia) showed up a half hour or so late. So, I hung out with my teacher for the first half hour, forty-five minutes or so, and can safely say that she is just super-cool.
After class, a group of us went to get lunch and then today we have dance class with Taty (dance teacher, not teacher teacher). We don´t usually have it on Mondays, but every once in awhile, they offer a free class on Mondays, so that´s today.
Things continue to go well here, though. It is definitely strange that I am already well into my third week. Unfortunate, too, because that means I have less than a month to go (in Salvador)....but, since it ain´t over til it´s over, the only direction to go is forward.
That said, has anybody seen my caipirinha ?
abraços,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Friday, January 18, 2008
Dance, dance, dance, but mind your c´s and q´s
Now let me see if I can remember...ah yes, that´s right, the word of the last two days is festa (party). You know you´ve come to the right place when not only are classes canceled in order to attend a party, but school also makes a field trip out of it! But that wasn´t even the first party of the last few days, so let me backtrack a bit and I´ll go in order.
Wednesday´s class was a regular one, and when I say ´´regular one,´´ don´t think that I have to ´´get through´´ classes in order to enjoy the rest of my day. Classes here are fun (school? fun? imagine!), because in my class, we spend most of the time talking, going off on tangents, watching videos of musicians (samba, bossa-nova, etc.) -- both the YouTube kinds and documentary-types -- and then when we make mistakes, Rômulo points them out...and boy does he ever! In fact, Wednesday turned out to be *the* day we all knew (or at least, *I* knew) would come at some point. But these things are comical, so while there´s always a moment of, ´´oh, that´s embarrassing, but wait, that´s funny, so I´m not embarrassed´´ (there´s a difference), it´s a learning experience (see? always learning). Anyway, so this is how it went down...
So, we were talking about grammar (not a rare topic of conversation in class), and I wanted to write down a few keywords in my notebook. Since I majored in Spanish and Italian in college, I´m already conditioned to spelling the homonyms across the languages as they should be spelled (for instance, ´´when´´ in Spanish is cuando and in Italian is quando). Easy enough. Since I´m still in the early stages of acquiring a Portuguese vocabulary, and at the earlier stages I was always more interested in learning Portuguese words than how to say the actual letters, I wanted to ask Rômulo if the words he had just said were to be spelled with a ´´q´´ or a ´´c.´´ However, I only got as far as asking about ´´q,´´ which, as it turned out, I never *really* learned how the actual letter is pronounced. Since I didn´t realize that, however, I naturally reverted to Spanish (where that letter is pronounced as [koo]). Now, before I go any further, I must tell you that Rômulo (who is super nice and a good teacher) gets embarrassed easily, so when I asked if ´´when´´ is spelled with a ´´koo´´ he didn´t know how to react. I guess I wouldn´t either if someone asked if the word ´´when´´ is spelled with an asshole. So, after a brief pause -- clearly to register what I had just said -- a smile appeared on his face that indicated that I had said something I shouldn´t have but that he didn´t have it in him to tell me exactly what it was. He then answered that it wasn´t, so I crossed out everything I had written in my notebook (there were two ´´q´´-words I had put down), and started to rewrite them with ´´c´´s. Then he writes the words on the board with ´´q´´s and in the meantime, he starts trying to explain my mistake without coming out and directly telling me what I said (even after I said just to tell me!). Eventually, I figured it out, and I said, so I was right! And he said, well, yes, but that´s not how to say ´´q´´...so I crossed out the new ´´c´´-words and rewrote them again with ´´q´´s. Well, gotta learn somehow.
Samba class turned out to be canceled at the last minute, so a group of us hit the beach instead, but since we had made plans for later, we couldn´t spend the whole rest of the day there.
Wednesday night kicked off a festival in Salvador called Festival de Verão (Summer Festival). It lasts from Wednesday to Sunday, and basically, it consists of lots of bands every night playing from 7-something until who-even-knows. A bunch of us got tickets on Tuesday, and we went on Wednesday night. The place where the concert was is not close (and is even farther in rush hour), so we ended up getting there just before the third band. The bands that play are all big names in Brasil, so we saw people like Ivete Sangalo, Gilberto Gil, Capital Inicial, etc. Manu Chao played on a sidestage on Thursday, but we only got tickets for Wednesday. They said that 50,000-plus people were in attendance, and everyone was singing and dancing and rocking out until all hours. We even ran into Taty (our dance teacher) there! We ended up being a group of six who went, although two groups of people from the school (us and the Swisses) ended up going. Our group was a mix of old students (like myself and Greg) and new ones: Arina (Romanian girl from my class who lives in Australia), Jaime (Barcelona, Spain -- a tourguide who works in Italy), Sheberon (from Sweden -- she works on a ship that goes between Oslo and Copenhagen), and Favian (from Martinique, but lives in Paris -- not sure what she does, but I know she speaks French). All in all, we had a really fun time, and we ended up leaving during the penultimate group (around 3-something).
It seems that this week is great training for Carnaval, considering we had to meet at school at 7am to participate in a festival called the Lavagem de Bonfim. The Lavagem de Bonfim is considered the second largest event of Bahia, losing only to Carnaval. Newspaper articles reported that more than 1 million people were in attendance. Fortunately, I can say I was one of them. Running on only one and a half hours of ´´head-hit-the-pillow-and-alarm-clock-goes-off-seemingly-30-seconds-later´´ sleep, I met up with everyone at the school and caught the bus to Pelourinho to start the procession with the masses. Everyone is supposed to wear white for Bonfim, and already when we got there, the beers were flowing, the fried food was a-fryin´, and the heat was definitely first in line at the event. (And I must say, my 9am burger was delicious!...by the way, this coming from a non-meat eater (usually) is really noteworthy. It kind of looked like a Hot Pocket.) Our school gave out these silly looking yellow hats to wear, and though many people didn´t wear them (like me), some did, and it made it easy to find the group when necessary. We walked a good portion of the way in the direction of the church, but not the whole way (it´s an 8km walk), and though it would have been an interesting sight to see at the end of the course, there were SO many people and if we walked there, it would be impossible to get back (buses would be too crowded, which would mean we´d likely have to walk a good ways back). The school took us to this one stopping point and then we watched as other people passed by. Trucks and mini-floats drove by with people following closely behind, dancing to the music, and anyone could participate. Basically, the point is: dance with the procession, or dance alongside it. Out of 1 million-plus participants, though, you can bet I was surprised when I ran into Auana and Eliene! That was fun!... Another funny thing to happen was that at one point, this teacher at our school asked if any of us wanted to help out a photographer who works for the Bahian government. He was taking photos of the festival to be used in magazines, on billboards, and in publicity to encourage people to come to Bahia, so he was looking for volunteers to be photographed (us mixed with native Bahians) to appear in those ads. A few people agreed (myself included), and honestly, I´m not sure if it even came to pass. That guy kind of disappeared after awhile (he had a real photographer´s camera, so he didn´t seem too sketchy), but he didn´t specifically put us anywhere to take pictures. So, maybe he took pictures, maybe he didn´t. So, if you see me in a magazine encouraging people to come to Bahia, save me a copy! I´d love to see it...Anyway, by 11 or so, the teachers were heading out, so we could stay or go. Many of us left, but instead of taking a quick route home, we walked back against the current to see more parade , and then by the time I got home around noon, I was more than ready for my two-hour nap (my two-hour nap...). Little did I know that there was another Bonfim celebration outside my window somewhere, so I fell asleep to the sweet sounds of drums and yelling (ah, yes -- nothing like it).
Later on in the day, I was hanging out in my neighborhood and waiting at the bus stop, when two guys came up and asked for directions -- kind of in Portuguese, kind of not. I asked if that guy (the one who asked) was Italian, and he said yes, so we talked for a few minutes in Italian. I wasn´t exactly sure how to get where he wanted to go, so I took his map and went and asked a local in Portuguese how to get there. Then, I brought the map back and relayed the message to him, and when that guy went to ask the bus driver something, I started talking to his friend (a Spaniard). Going back and forth among Italian-Spanish-Portuguese is *not* easy after trying so hard to put Italian and Spanish aside for a few months. Looks like my internal on-off switch is a little rusty.
But anyway, time to get going...moral of the past few days is: It´s nice when school cancels class to take you to parties! Let this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...Anyone else want to study Portuguese?
In the meantime, happy dancing to all and to all a good ---- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Wednesday´s class was a regular one, and when I say ´´regular one,´´ don´t think that I have to ´´get through´´ classes in order to enjoy the rest of my day. Classes here are fun (school? fun? imagine!), because in my class, we spend most of the time talking, going off on tangents, watching videos of musicians (samba, bossa-nova, etc.) -- both the YouTube kinds and documentary-types -- and then when we make mistakes, Rômulo points them out...and boy does he ever! In fact, Wednesday turned out to be *the* day we all knew (or at least, *I* knew) would come at some point. But these things are comical, so while there´s always a moment of, ´´oh, that´s embarrassing, but wait, that´s funny, so I´m not embarrassed´´ (there´s a difference), it´s a learning experience (see? always learning). Anyway, so this is how it went down...
So, we were talking about grammar (not a rare topic of conversation in class), and I wanted to write down a few keywords in my notebook. Since I majored in Spanish and Italian in college, I´m already conditioned to spelling the homonyms across the languages as they should be spelled (for instance, ´´when´´ in Spanish is cuando and in Italian is quando). Easy enough. Since I´m still in the early stages of acquiring a Portuguese vocabulary, and at the earlier stages I was always more interested in learning Portuguese words than how to say the actual letters, I wanted to ask Rômulo if the words he had just said were to be spelled with a ´´q´´ or a ´´c.´´ However, I only got as far as asking about ´´q,´´ which, as it turned out, I never *really* learned how the actual letter is pronounced. Since I didn´t realize that, however, I naturally reverted to Spanish (where that letter is pronounced as [koo]). Now, before I go any further, I must tell you that Rômulo (who is super nice and a good teacher) gets embarrassed easily, so when I asked if ´´when´´ is spelled with a ´´koo´´ he didn´t know how to react. I guess I wouldn´t either if someone asked if the word ´´when´´ is spelled with an asshole. So, after a brief pause -- clearly to register what I had just said -- a smile appeared on his face that indicated that I had said something I shouldn´t have but that he didn´t have it in him to tell me exactly what it was. He then answered that it wasn´t, so I crossed out everything I had written in my notebook (there were two ´´q´´-words I had put down), and started to rewrite them with ´´c´´s. Then he writes the words on the board with ´´q´´s and in the meantime, he starts trying to explain my mistake without coming out and directly telling me what I said (even after I said just to tell me!). Eventually, I figured it out, and I said, so I was right! And he said, well, yes, but that´s not how to say ´´q´´...so I crossed out the new ´´c´´-words and rewrote them again with ´´q´´s. Well, gotta learn somehow.
Samba class turned out to be canceled at the last minute, so a group of us hit the beach instead, but since we had made plans for later, we couldn´t spend the whole rest of the day there.
Wednesday night kicked off a festival in Salvador called Festival de Verão (Summer Festival). It lasts from Wednesday to Sunday, and basically, it consists of lots of bands every night playing from 7-something until who-even-knows. A bunch of us got tickets on Tuesday, and we went on Wednesday night. The place where the concert was is not close (and is even farther in rush hour), so we ended up getting there just before the third band. The bands that play are all big names in Brasil, so we saw people like Ivete Sangalo, Gilberto Gil, Capital Inicial, etc. Manu Chao played on a sidestage on Thursday, but we only got tickets for Wednesday. They said that 50,000-plus people were in attendance, and everyone was singing and dancing and rocking out until all hours. We even ran into Taty (our dance teacher) there! We ended up being a group of six who went, although two groups of people from the school (us and the Swisses) ended up going. Our group was a mix of old students (like myself and Greg) and new ones: Arina (Romanian girl from my class who lives in Australia), Jaime (Barcelona, Spain -- a tourguide who works in Italy), Sheberon (from Sweden -- she works on a ship that goes between Oslo and Copenhagen), and Favian (from Martinique, but lives in Paris -- not sure what she does, but I know she speaks French). All in all, we had a really fun time, and we ended up leaving during the penultimate group (around 3-something).
It seems that this week is great training for Carnaval, considering we had to meet at school at 7am to participate in a festival called the Lavagem de Bonfim. The Lavagem de Bonfim is considered the second largest event of Bahia, losing only to Carnaval. Newspaper articles reported that more than 1 million people were in attendance. Fortunately, I can say I was one of them. Running on only one and a half hours of ´´head-hit-the-pillow-and-alarm-clock-goes-off-seemingly-30-seconds-later´´ sleep, I met up with everyone at the school and caught the bus to Pelourinho to start the procession with the masses. Everyone is supposed to wear white for Bonfim, and already when we got there, the beers were flowing, the fried food was a-fryin´, and the heat was definitely first in line at the event. (And I must say, my 9am burger was delicious!...by the way, this coming from a non-meat eater (usually) is really noteworthy. It kind of looked like a Hot Pocket.) Our school gave out these silly looking yellow hats to wear, and though many people didn´t wear them (like me), some did, and it made it easy to find the group when necessary. We walked a good portion of the way in the direction of the church, but not the whole way (it´s an 8km walk), and though it would have been an interesting sight to see at the end of the course, there were SO many people and if we walked there, it would be impossible to get back (buses would be too crowded, which would mean we´d likely have to walk a good ways back). The school took us to this one stopping point and then we watched as other people passed by. Trucks and mini-floats drove by with people following closely behind, dancing to the music, and anyone could participate. Basically, the point is: dance with the procession, or dance alongside it. Out of 1 million-plus participants, though, you can bet I was surprised when I ran into Auana and Eliene! That was fun!... Another funny thing to happen was that at one point, this teacher at our school asked if any of us wanted to help out a photographer who works for the Bahian government. He was taking photos of the festival to be used in magazines, on billboards, and in publicity to encourage people to come to Bahia, so he was looking for volunteers to be photographed (us mixed with native Bahians) to appear in those ads. A few people agreed (myself included), and honestly, I´m not sure if it even came to pass. That guy kind of disappeared after awhile (he had a real photographer´s camera, so he didn´t seem too sketchy), but he didn´t specifically put us anywhere to take pictures. So, maybe he took pictures, maybe he didn´t. So, if you see me in a magazine encouraging people to come to Bahia, save me a copy! I´d love to see it...Anyway, by 11 or so, the teachers were heading out, so we could stay or go. Many of us left, but instead of taking a quick route home, we walked back against the current to see more parade , and then by the time I got home around noon, I was more than ready for my two-hour nap (my two-hour nap...). Little did I know that there was another Bonfim celebration outside my window somewhere, so I fell asleep to the sweet sounds of drums and yelling (ah, yes -- nothing like it).
Later on in the day, I was hanging out in my neighborhood and waiting at the bus stop, when two guys came up and asked for directions -- kind of in Portuguese, kind of not. I asked if that guy (the one who asked) was Italian, and he said yes, so we talked for a few minutes in Italian. I wasn´t exactly sure how to get where he wanted to go, so I took his map and went and asked a local in Portuguese how to get there. Then, I brought the map back and relayed the message to him, and when that guy went to ask the bus driver something, I started talking to his friend (a Spaniard). Going back and forth among Italian-Spanish-Portuguese is *not* easy after trying so hard to put Italian and Spanish aside for a few months. Looks like my internal on-off switch is a little rusty.
But anyway, time to get going...moral of the past few days is: It´s nice when school cancels class to take you to parties! Let this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship...Anyone else want to study Portuguese?
In the meantime, happy dancing to all and to all a good ---- zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Time to hit the books!
Badum, ching! Nope, I´m not trying get myself a laugh at a stand-up show with an audience of one; rather, I´m just trying to convey the sound that my tambourine makes! But I´ll get to that later...
A recap of the week this far starts with Monday. Lots of new kids started at the school -- some Americans, some Swiss, some ´´other.´´ One really annoying part of the program is that everyone who comes to study at my school stays for different lengths of time, which means each person comes with a different agenda. The Swiss kids who started the same day I did, for instance... they generally stick together, speaking Swiss-German and going to the beach. They go out in big groups and go to touristy places, and though sometimes they stumble on lesser-known, more local joints, it seems that before they leave, a lot of them want to do the beach tour of Brazil. To some of their credit, some of them have other goals. For example, Sabina, the girl in my class, is going to volunteer in São Paulo for six months, doing humanitarian work. Another of the ´´Swisses,´´ Claude, works at McDonald´s in the flipping burgers department. He took three months of vacation to come learn Portuguese, and apparently this kind of stint is not new for him. When he wanted to learn Spanish, he went to Mexico for three months. When he wanted an introduction to English, he went abroad for three months for that, too. Never have I met anyone who works at McDonald´s who lives his/her life like that. Then there´s this other guy, Marvin, who was born in Brazil and was given up for adoption very young. He was adopted by a Swiss family and his goal in coming here is apparently to spend a few weeks at school learning Portuguese and is then going to Rio de Janeiro to search for his birth mother. Everyone comes with a different goal in mind, and though sometimes that makes it difficult to coordinate schedules and get to know people because people are always coming and going, people have to fulfill their raison d´être at the same time, and that´s ok, too.
So, anyway, we didn´t get any new students in my class -- in fact, last Friday was the last day of class for the Norwegian guy, so on Monday, it was down to two, just me and Sabina (until Tuesday, when a Romanian-born girl who now lives in Australia and spent time living in Italy joined our class). After Monday´s class, a bunch of us went to lunch, and then Veronica and I hit the beach with one of the new guys at school, Salvador (USA). While we were at the beach, I went swimming and some Bahian kids (kidskids) befriended me in the water. They were fascinated by the fact that my eyes are blue and that I´m learning Portuguese, so they kept asking me to say things in Portuguese (by repeating after them). They said I can speak Portuguese well, which I considered a compliment, considering the fact that when I was walking home last week, one of the women I met on the street told me that everything about me seemed Brazilian until I started speaking. I think I like those kids better.
At night, I went to the movies with Auana and Eliene. We saw a Brazilian movie called ´´Meu nome não é Johnny´´ (My name isn´t Johnny), and though Brazil doesn´t ever dub movies (always a plus when you want to hear the original language), since this movie is Brazilian, the movie was in Portuguese without subtitles. I understood more than I thought I would, but I still have a ways to go in terms of slang expressions and jokes and whatnot. Fortunately, Auana leaned over a few times and explained some expressions to me.
Tuesday, I had class and then after lunch I had my first percussion class, out in Pelourinho. I had thought it would be a drum lesson, with a certain teacher, but then a different teacher showed up and it ended up being with the tambourine. Once he started playing the tambourine for real, though, I decided to continue with the class because with the tambourine, you can get the drumming sound and the tambourine sound all out of that portable little instrument. My teacher (his name is Gótico) gave me homework, but since I don´t have my own tambourine yet, he told me to practice on a book. So, it looks like all that practice in gradeschool of tapping on my books might finally come in handy!
Afterwards, I met up with Antonia, who, for those of you who don´t know (and even for those of you who do), is like part of the family (American extended family, not host family). She hails from Salvador, in fact, and though she lives in New York, she happens to be in Salvador this week. It´s funny -- I´ve known her practically all my life, and I never thought I´d be in Salvador and experience it with her. It´s all one of life´s surprises...
The weather here continues to be beachy..it always feels like I´m missing out when I don´t have the chance to go, but there´s just too much else to do that the beach just has to be the default activity for now (and it´s not a bad default, I can assure you that much). Even so, the sun still accompanies me from place to place.
Right, so that´s it for now. Time to hit the books! Literally...
abraços,
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
A recap of the week this far starts with Monday. Lots of new kids started at the school -- some Americans, some Swiss, some ´´other.´´ One really annoying part of the program is that everyone who comes to study at my school stays for different lengths of time, which means each person comes with a different agenda. The Swiss kids who started the same day I did, for instance... they generally stick together, speaking Swiss-German and going to the beach. They go out in big groups and go to touristy places, and though sometimes they stumble on lesser-known, more local joints, it seems that before they leave, a lot of them want to do the beach tour of Brazil. To some of their credit, some of them have other goals. For example, Sabina, the girl in my class, is going to volunteer in São Paulo for six months, doing humanitarian work. Another of the ´´Swisses,´´ Claude, works at McDonald´s in the flipping burgers department. He took three months of vacation to come learn Portuguese, and apparently this kind of stint is not new for him. When he wanted to learn Spanish, he went to Mexico for three months. When he wanted an introduction to English, he went abroad for three months for that, too. Never have I met anyone who works at McDonald´s who lives his/her life like that. Then there´s this other guy, Marvin, who was born in Brazil and was given up for adoption very young. He was adopted by a Swiss family and his goal in coming here is apparently to spend a few weeks at school learning Portuguese and is then going to Rio de Janeiro to search for his birth mother. Everyone comes with a different goal in mind, and though sometimes that makes it difficult to coordinate schedules and get to know people because people are always coming and going, people have to fulfill their raison d´être at the same time, and that´s ok, too.
So, anyway, we didn´t get any new students in my class -- in fact, last Friday was the last day of class for the Norwegian guy, so on Monday, it was down to two, just me and Sabina (until Tuesday, when a Romanian-born girl who now lives in Australia and spent time living in Italy joined our class). After Monday´s class, a bunch of us went to lunch, and then Veronica and I hit the beach with one of the new guys at school, Salvador (USA). While we were at the beach, I went swimming and some Bahian kids (kidskids) befriended me in the water. They were fascinated by the fact that my eyes are blue and that I´m learning Portuguese, so they kept asking me to say things in Portuguese (by repeating after them). They said I can speak Portuguese well, which I considered a compliment, considering the fact that when I was walking home last week, one of the women I met on the street told me that everything about me seemed Brazilian until I started speaking. I think I like those kids better.
At night, I went to the movies with Auana and Eliene. We saw a Brazilian movie called ´´Meu nome não é Johnny´´ (My name isn´t Johnny), and though Brazil doesn´t ever dub movies (always a plus when you want to hear the original language), since this movie is Brazilian, the movie was in Portuguese without subtitles. I understood more than I thought I would, but I still have a ways to go in terms of slang expressions and jokes and whatnot. Fortunately, Auana leaned over a few times and explained some expressions to me.
Tuesday, I had class and then after lunch I had my first percussion class, out in Pelourinho. I had thought it would be a drum lesson, with a certain teacher, but then a different teacher showed up and it ended up being with the tambourine. Once he started playing the tambourine for real, though, I decided to continue with the class because with the tambourine, you can get the drumming sound and the tambourine sound all out of that portable little instrument. My teacher (his name is Gótico) gave me homework, but since I don´t have my own tambourine yet, he told me to practice on a book. So, it looks like all that practice in gradeschool of tapping on my books might finally come in handy!
Afterwards, I met up with Antonia, who, for those of you who don´t know (and even for those of you who do), is like part of the family (American extended family, not host family). She hails from Salvador, in fact, and though she lives in New York, she happens to be in Salvador this week. It´s funny -- I´ve known her practically all my life, and I never thought I´d be in Salvador and experience it with her. It´s all one of life´s surprises...
The weather here continues to be beachy..it always feels like I´m missing out when I don´t have the chance to go, but there´s just too much else to do that the beach just has to be the default activity for now (and it´s not a bad default, I can assure you that much). Even so, the sun still accompanies me from place to place.
Right, so that´s it for now. Time to hit the books! Literally...
abraços,
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Monday, January 14, 2008
All except for the sketchies
So, I forgot to include two observations in my last entry. I guess my sense of Chronos and Kairos continues to be a little bit off here, as I stroll the streets of Salvador at my anti-Madhattan pace.
One thing that surprised me when approaching locals by myself for any reason (to ask directions, buy something, etc.) was that when I spoke to them in (my) Portuguese, they replied in Portuguese. When I studied in Florence, Italy, one of the most frustrating parts of the experience was that I would speak to people in Italian and they would reply in English, despite my most noble efforts not to stray from Italian. Here, at first I couldn´t tell if it was because they didn´t know English or if they were just doing me a favor by not replying to me in English. I have come to the conclusion that it´s a little of both. People always ask where you are from, and when they find out it´s the US, some people will say, ´´Oh! Do you prefer English?´´ And when I say no, they´ll revert to Portuguese. Some people don´t even ask because they simply don´t know English. And though sometimes it is difficult to understand what people are saying (because of dialect or any number of reasons), it is still that much more helpful that they just aren´t speaking in English.
Then on Friday, something happened (twice) that would NEVER happen in the U.S....at least never in New York (or to this day hasn´t, in my experience, at least). I was walking home from school at a pretty quick pace and I was walking next to the same woman for awhile and at some point we kind of ran into each other, but only ever-so-slightly. I apologized (it wasn´t really my fault, though..nor was it hers), and she struck up a conversation with me. We walked most of the rest of the way together (about 10-15 more minutes) and when it came time for her to turn the corner, she wished me luck and that was that. Then, that night, when I was heading out to go downtown, I was leaving to catch the bus and since I was going to a bus stop that I hadn´t been to before, I asked a woman if I was going in the right direction. She walked with me for a few blocks, asked me where I was from, we talked for a few more minutes, and then said, if I know of anyone who wants to rent out an apartment (or if I need one myself), to give her a call, and she gave me her business card. (One thing about people here: EVERYONE is trying to rent out apartments for Carnaval.) But overall, everyone just seems so genuinely nice here...well, that is, all except for the sketchies.
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
One thing that surprised me when approaching locals by myself for any reason (to ask directions, buy something, etc.) was that when I spoke to them in (my) Portuguese, they replied in Portuguese. When I studied in Florence, Italy, one of the most frustrating parts of the experience was that I would speak to people in Italian and they would reply in English, despite my most noble efforts not to stray from Italian. Here, at first I couldn´t tell if it was because they didn´t know English or if they were just doing me a favor by not replying to me in English. I have come to the conclusion that it´s a little of both. People always ask where you are from, and when they find out it´s the US, some people will say, ´´Oh! Do you prefer English?´´ And when I say no, they´ll revert to Portuguese. Some people don´t even ask because they simply don´t know English. And though sometimes it is difficult to understand what people are saying (because of dialect or any number of reasons), it is still that much more helpful that they just aren´t speaking in English.
Then on Friday, something happened (twice) that would NEVER happen in the U.S....at least never in New York (or to this day hasn´t, in my experience, at least). I was walking home from school at a pretty quick pace and I was walking next to the same woman for awhile and at some point we kind of ran into each other, but only ever-so-slightly. I apologized (it wasn´t really my fault, though..nor was it hers), and she struck up a conversation with me. We walked most of the rest of the way together (about 10-15 more minutes) and when it came time for her to turn the corner, she wished me luck and that was that. Then, that night, when I was heading out to go downtown, I was leaving to catch the bus and since I was going to a bus stop that I hadn´t been to before, I asked a woman if I was going in the right direction. She walked with me for a few blocks, asked me where I was from, we talked for a few more minutes, and then said, if I know of anyone who wants to rent out an apartment (or if I need one myself), to give her a call, and she gave me her business card. (One thing about people here: EVERYONE is trying to rent out apartments for Carnaval.) But overall, everyone just seems so genuinely nice here...well, that is, all except for the sketchies.
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 13, 2008
1, 2, 3, jump!
Hello to all!
I hope you had a good weekend. I did!
The End...Just kidding!
So, Friday was a regular day of class and then dance class again in the afternoon. Attendance at class with Taty was on the low side, though it´s kind of funny...three people showed up (myself included), and it was Norway, Switzerland, and USA....aka my Portuguese class! A class that learns together dances together...or something like that. Anyway, it turned out to be another good workout, and Taty is still really fun. Hopefully by the time Carnaval rolls around in a couple of weeks, I will be up to speed on my Afro-Brazilian moves.
Then at night, a bunch of us went out in Pelourinho. We saw a dance show, replete with costumes, capoeira, dancing, singing, and albeit kind of touristey, it was still pretty cool. Afterwards, we hung around in the cobblestone backstreets of Pelourinho, jamming to some live music and hanging around. At one point, a few of us (we were a group of seven) went into the bar where the band was playing and by the time we came out, the rest of the group had made friends with an undercover military man. We had thought it was great, because since there were a lot of people in the streets, we had police protection on our side. He stayed with us for a seemingly long time, but then by the time four of us headed out awhile later, the guy (who had introduced us to a bunch of his military men colleagues) walked us to a taxi and waited for his fee. We told him he never told us about that (I think he was trying to charge us the equivalent of $20 USD or so), but he kept pestering and pestering (and annoyingly so), so we eventually gave him a few dollars just to get off our case and scram, and not cause any trouble. One of those ´´too good to be true´´ situations, I guess...the guys in our group had just thought the military guy just had a crush on one of the girls! Sadly, that was not the case.
Saturday, the school offered an excursion to two islands off the coast of Salvador, Ilha do Frade and Ilha de Itaparica. We took a big catamaran type of boat with about 60-70 other people out there (we were on our own..we didn´t go with the school; the school just organized it), and there was a band playing on the boat, so, naturally, there was a dance party in the middle of the sea. When we got to the island, the thing to do was go swimming and hang out by the beach. We were there for a couple of hours before we boarded the boat to move on to the next island (Itaparica). When we got to Itaparica, we had the option to take a boat to shore (our boat didnt bring us all the way to shore) or jump off the boat and swim to shore. So, yup...1, 2, 3, jump! It was a good swim, and surprisingly, we beat the boats. And it wasn´t because there was a buffet lunch waiting for us when we got to the island. Our two options of things to do on that island were either to stay at the beach or to take a tour of the island. Of our group (12 people), some people went on the tour (myself included) and some people stayed at the beach. The tour lasted about an hour or so, and we got to see a few neat sites of the town (I´m not sure how much ´´town´´ there is, but I´d like to think whatever highlights there are, we saw), and then by the time we got back, it was time to board the boat to go back to Salvador, a nice leisurely ride of an hour and a half or so.
Sunday was also a day of day tripping, but this time it was to Cachoeira, a town about two hours away by bus. We mostly just explored that town and São Felix, a town you get to by walking from Cachoeira across a bridge of death (a bridge comprised of wooden panels, some shaky). A good daytrip experience with fun little hole-in-the-wall places to explore, including this one literary café place in Cachoeira where we met the owner of the gallery, who is also a poet..very cool guy.
All in all, a busy and on-the-go (but relaxing at the same time) weekend.
Hope your respective weekends were fun, too! Have a good week!
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
I hope you had a good weekend. I did!
The End...Just kidding!
So, Friday was a regular day of class and then dance class again in the afternoon. Attendance at class with Taty was on the low side, though it´s kind of funny...three people showed up (myself included), and it was Norway, Switzerland, and USA....aka my Portuguese class! A class that learns together dances together...or something like that. Anyway, it turned out to be another good workout, and Taty is still really fun. Hopefully by the time Carnaval rolls around in a couple of weeks, I will be up to speed on my Afro-Brazilian moves.
Then at night, a bunch of us went out in Pelourinho. We saw a dance show, replete with costumes, capoeira, dancing, singing, and albeit kind of touristey, it was still pretty cool. Afterwards, we hung around in the cobblestone backstreets of Pelourinho, jamming to some live music and hanging around. At one point, a few of us (we were a group of seven) went into the bar where the band was playing and by the time we came out, the rest of the group had made friends with an undercover military man. We had thought it was great, because since there were a lot of people in the streets, we had police protection on our side. He stayed with us for a seemingly long time, but then by the time four of us headed out awhile later, the guy (who had introduced us to a bunch of his military men colleagues) walked us to a taxi and waited for his fee. We told him he never told us about that (I think he was trying to charge us the equivalent of $20 USD or so), but he kept pestering and pestering (and annoyingly so), so we eventually gave him a few dollars just to get off our case and scram, and not cause any trouble. One of those ´´too good to be true´´ situations, I guess...the guys in our group had just thought the military guy just had a crush on one of the girls! Sadly, that was not the case.
Saturday, the school offered an excursion to two islands off the coast of Salvador, Ilha do Frade and Ilha de Itaparica. We took a big catamaran type of boat with about 60-70 other people out there (we were on our own..we didn´t go with the school; the school just organized it), and there was a band playing on the boat, so, naturally, there was a dance party in the middle of the sea. When we got to the island, the thing to do was go swimming and hang out by the beach. We were there for a couple of hours before we boarded the boat to move on to the next island (Itaparica). When we got to Itaparica, we had the option to take a boat to shore (our boat didnt bring us all the way to shore) or jump off the boat and swim to shore. So, yup...1, 2, 3, jump! It was a good swim, and surprisingly, we beat the boats. And it wasn´t because there was a buffet lunch waiting for us when we got to the island. Our two options of things to do on that island were either to stay at the beach or to take a tour of the island. Of our group (12 people), some people went on the tour (myself included) and some people stayed at the beach. The tour lasted about an hour or so, and we got to see a few neat sites of the town (I´m not sure how much ´´town´´ there is, but I´d like to think whatever highlights there are, we saw), and then by the time we got back, it was time to board the boat to go back to Salvador, a nice leisurely ride of an hour and a half or so.
Sunday was also a day of day tripping, but this time it was to Cachoeira, a town about two hours away by bus. We mostly just explored that town and São Felix, a town you get to by walking from Cachoeira across a bridge of death (a bridge comprised of wooden panels, some shaky). A good daytrip experience with fun little hole-in-the-wall places to explore, including this one literary café place in Cachoeira where we met the owner of the gallery, who is also a poet..very cool guy.
All in all, a busy and on-the-go (but relaxing at the same time) weekend.
Hope your respective weekends were fun, too! Have a good week!
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Friday, January 11, 2008
Incense, you missed one -- don´t let it happen again ... or else!
So, not much has happened since the last time I wrote...unless you count eating feijoada, taking a dance class (me, a dance class!), and narrowly escaping the wrath of the demon shower.
You have to understand, feijoada is a typical Brazilian dish, comprised of meat, meat, meat, and beans. Now, for someone who doesn´t really eat meat, it´s a pretty big deal to indulge in feijoada but since mãe invited me to try some of the homemade feijoada (and dinner isn´t included in the program, only breakfast...should I tell her that the joke´s on her since sometimes I eat breakfast foods at dinnertime?). So, I ate some and it was good! Curious as I was, I wanted to know what meats I was eating, but I decided to wait until after dinner to ask. ´´Meats, I´m going to eat you and then I´m going to find out what you are,´´ I thought. Afterwards, I asked, in a valiant effort to find out what I just conquered, and the answer I received was that it was a whole combination of meats. In ´´feijoada completa,´´ aka, when people go all out and make the real deal of feijoada, I guess they put in *everything* (whatever that means), but in this case, it was only *some* combination of meats. I never found out what the actual meats were, and honestly, maybe it´s for the better.
Wednesday after class, a bunch of us got lunch, and then instinct led the way to the beach. We couldn´t stay all day, however, because dance class started mid-afternoon. It was an hour of samba-reggae and other styles of dance that will show up at Carnaval, and it was quite a workout...and fun, too! The teacher (Tatiana) was a super-cute Bahian girl who I think was born knowing how to move her butt in a perfect circle. Afterwards, she told us that she would be in Pelourinho (downtown) at 7pm with percussion and everything if we wanted to come by and watch. From the way she was talking about it, it seemed like it would be a show. Not making any decisions then and there, a bunch of us went back to the beach. (When in Bahia...)
After spending awhile at the beach, Greg (USA) and I decided to check out Tati´s show in Pelourinho, so we hopped the bus and found the praça (plaza) where she was. Turns out it was a dance class she was teaching, but it may as well have been a show because everyone was in sync with one another and instead of using CDs, they used people and percussion instruments. All I have to say is wowwwwwwwwwwww. There´s a spectator sport if I´ve ever seen one. I feel like I burned calories just watching (and I´m good at watching)! There was this little boy near us who was even jamming along to the music (not part of the class), and even *he* had rhythm. I asked his mom how old he was and she said one year and 10 months. We told her that he dances better than each of us. She laughed and went on to tell us how he takes capoeira lessons! (Only in Bahia...)
Thursday morning was a bit of an adventure in itself. Until then, I had only taken maybe one shower that had been warmer than ´´almost hot enough´´ so whenever I get into the shower, I always turn the handle all the way to the other direction and usually after a few minutes, the temperature is almost fine. That day, it was no different. After I turned it off, though, there was still water dripping from the shower, so I thought I hadn´t turned it off all the way, but the weird thing was, the water was scalding (a first!). Then I realized I *had* turned it off all the way, and then the whole shower started steaming up, the showerhead (which is fixed to the wall and was, what I thought, a solid white color), turned bright devil red and it looked like demon eyes started flashing (no joke!). But since the small window in the bathroom was already open, the water was turned off, and this unit was bubbling and steaming, the only thing I could do was run for my vida. But first, I decided to open the bathroom door to try and conquer the demon monster myself before waking ninja mãe (demon monster´s nemesis, perhaps?), and all of a sudden, the red showerhead turned white again, and it was as if the whole encounter never even happened. And the apartment remained silent. Was it worth telling ninja mãe that when she incensed (pun intended) the whole place the other day to cleanse the place and get rid of bad things that she missed one? Nah, I can fight this one on my own, just as any good apprentice would.
Then, you know, class and kicking it around Pelourinho ensued. I want to learn how to play the drums while I´m here (percussion style), so I asked Auana and Eliene about classes. Apparently, Auana´s godfather owns a school in Pelourinho. I now have my first lesson at his school next week. I asked for the family discount, but since he wasn´t there when I went to sign up, I didn´t get it. They said maybe if I sign up for a package deal after the first lesson. So, we´ll have to see how the first one goes. While I was in Pelourinho, I stumbled into the filming of a TV show that was traveling around Brazil and was filming its final episode in Salvador in Pelourinho. They asked if I wanted to sign the waiver and be part of it, but I didn´t know what it would entail besides dancing, if anything (and clearly I´m not Bahian...maybe that´s why they wanted me?), and they didn´t know when they were going to start (there was a lot of standing around), so I passed. I came back later and hung around for a few minutes, jamming to the live music. Fun! But really hot outside.
This morning, I woke up ready for a fight, even though I left my boxing gloves back in New York. Much to my surprise, I found out that there was a leak in the showerhead, and I don´t know if the devil that lives inside was trying to play a mean trick or if it burned a hole yesterday. When I turned on the shower, though, it spewed water out the side and was not of top shower quality. Determined to not let it get the best of me, I swiveled the one-headed monster around so that the water shooting out the side now leaked in a downward direction and I managed to take my shower. Robbins: 2 (including the 1 from yesterday), demonshower: 0. Before I left for class, I found in talking to Auana that they had gotten a new showerhead two days before I arrived, and they had problems with it yesterday in the afternoon, too, although when I recounted yesterday morning´s story, she was totally surprised. She had already called a guy yesterday to come fix it today. We´ll see what happens.
What else to tell...well, other new foods/drinks I´ve tried are mango juice, tangerine juice, and Nescau (Cocoa Puffs)..ok, maybe that last one isn´t so new, but I´ve never had Brazilian Cocoa Puffs before this week.
Finally, one more correction to my last entry. I mentioned that the ´fun mass´ is held every Wednesday...apparently, it´s every Tuesday. I seem to get my days mixed up here, and it´s very easy to do so. I have my days straight in English, and I have my days straight in Portuguese, but when I try and figure out what day it is in English, sometimes I get confused. In Portuguese, the system of days of the week is the equivalent of calling Monday ´´second day,´´ Tuesday ´´third day,´´ Wednesday ´´fourth day,´´ etc. and then Saturday and Sunday have actual names. So, I don´t get confused when I think of days in terms of English or Portuguese, but I guess since everything is so laid back here that when I translate the days of the week, I simply don´t even know what day it is, because all the days are more or less the same.
Anyway, that´s the news from here.
A good weekend to all, and careful in the shower...
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
You have to understand, feijoada is a typical Brazilian dish, comprised of meat, meat, meat, and beans. Now, for someone who doesn´t really eat meat, it´s a pretty big deal to indulge in feijoada but since mãe invited me to try some of the homemade feijoada (and dinner isn´t included in the program, only breakfast...should I tell her that the joke´s on her since sometimes I eat breakfast foods at dinnertime?). So, I ate some and it was good! Curious as I was, I wanted to know what meats I was eating, but I decided to wait until after dinner to ask. ´´Meats, I´m going to eat you and then I´m going to find out what you are,´´ I thought. Afterwards, I asked, in a valiant effort to find out what I just conquered, and the answer I received was that it was a whole combination of meats. In ´´feijoada completa,´´ aka, when people go all out and make the real deal of feijoada, I guess they put in *everything* (whatever that means), but in this case, it was only *some* combination of meats. I never found out what the actual meats were, and honestly, maybe it´s for the better.
Wednesday after class, a bunch of us got lunch, and then instinct led the way to the beach. We couldn´t stay all day, however, because dance class started mid-afternoon. It was an hour of samba-reggae and other styles of dance that will show up at Carnaval, and it was quite a workout...and fun, too! The teacher (Tatiana) was a super-cute Bahian girl who I think was born knowing how to move her butt in a perfect circle. Afterwards, she told us that she would be in Pelourinho (downtown) at 7pm with percussion and everything if we wanted to come by and watch. From the way she was talking about it, it seemed like it would be a show. Not making any decisions then and there, a bunch of us went back to the beach. (When in Bahia...)
After spending awhile at the beach, Greg (USA) and I decided to check out Tati´s show in Pelourinho, so we hopped the bus and found the praça (plaza) where she was. Turns out it was a dance class she was teaching, but it may as well have been a show because everyone was in sync with one another and instead of using CDs, they used people and percussion instruments. All I have to say is wowwwwwwwwwwww. There´s a spectator sport if I´ve ever seen one. I feel like I burned calories just watching (and I´m good at watching)! There was this little boy near us who was even jamming along to the music (not part of the class), and even *he* had rhythm. I asked his mom how old he was and she said one year and 10 months. We told her that he dances better than each of us. She laughed and went on to tell us how he takes capoeira lessons! (Only in Bahia...)
Thursday morning was a bit of an adventure in itself. Until then, I had only taken maybe one shower that had been warmer than ´´almost hot enough´´ so whenever I get into the shower, I always turn the handle all the way to the other direction and usually after a few minutes, the temperature is almost fine. That day, it was no different. After I turned it off, though, there was still water dripping from the shower, so I thought I hadn´t turned it off all the way, but the weird thing was, the water was scalding (a first!). Then I realized I *had* turned it off all the way, and then the whole shower started steaming up, the showerhead (which is fixed to the wall and was, what I thought, a solid white color), turned bright devil red and it looked like demon eyes started flashing (no joke!). But since the small window in the bathroom was already open, the water was turned off, and this unit was bubbling and steaming, the only thing I could do was run for my vida. But first, I decided to open the bathroom door to try and conquer the demon monster myself before waking ninja mãe (demon monster´s nemesis, perhaps?), and all of a sudden, the red showerhead turned white again, and it was as if the whole encounter never even happened. And the apartment remained silent. Was it worth telling ninja mãe that when she incensed (pun intended) the whole place the other day to cleanse the place and get rid of bad things that she missed one? Nah, I can fight this one on my own, just as any good apprentice would.
Then, you know, class and kicking it around Pelourinho ensued. I want to learn how to play the drums while I´m here (percussion style), so I asked Auana and Eliene about classes. Apparently, Auana´s godfather owns a school in Pelourinho. I now have my first lesson at his school next week. I asked for the family discount, but since he wasn´t there when I went to sign up, I didn´t get it. They said maybe if I sign up for a package deal after the first lesson. So, we´ll have to see how the first one goes. While I was in Pelourinho, I stumbled into the filming of a TV show that was traveling around Brazil and was filming its final episode in Salvador in Pelourinho. They asked if I wanted to sign the waiver and be part of it, but I didn´t know what it would entail besides dancing, if anything (and clearly I´m not Bahian...maybe that´s why they wanted me?), and they didn´t know when they were going to start (there was a lot of standing around), so I passed. I came back later and hung around for a few minutes, jamming to the live music. Fun! But really hot outside.
This morning, I woke up ready for a fight, even though I left my boxing gloves back in New York. Much to my surprise, I found out that there was a leak in the showerhead, and I don´t know if the devil that lives inside was trying to play a mean trick or if it burned a hole yesterday. When I turned on the shower, though, it spewed water out the side and was not of top shower quality. Determined to not let it get the best of me, I swiveled the one-headed monster around so that the water shooting out the side now leaked in a downward direction and I managed to take my shower. Robbins: 2 (including the 1 from yesterday), demonshower: 0. Before I left for class, I found in talking to Auana that they had gotten a new showerhead two days before I arrived, and they had problems with it yesterday in the afternoon, too, although when I recounted yesterday morning´s story, she was totally surprised. She had already called a guy yesterday to come fix it today. We´ll see what happens.
What else to tell...well, other new foods/drinks I´ve tried are mango juice, tangerine juice, and Nescau (Cocoa Puffs)..ok, maybe that last one isn´t so new, but I´ve never had Brazilian Cocoa Puffs before this week.
Finally, one more correction to my last entry. I mentioned that the ´fun mass´ is held every Wednesday...apparently, it´s every Tuesday. I seem to get my days mixed up here, and it´s very easy to do so. I have my days straight in English, and I have my days straight in Portuguese, but when I try and figure out what day it is in English, sometimes I get confused. In Portuguese, the system of days of the week is the equivalent of calling Monday ´´second day,´´ Tuesday ´´third day,´´ Wednesday ´´fourth day,´´ etc. and then Saturday and Sunday have actual names. So, I don´t get confused when I think of days in terms of English or Portuguese, but I guess since everything is so laid back here that when I translate the days of the week, I simply don´t even know what day it is, because all the days are more or less the same.
Anyway, that´s the news from here.
A good weekend to all, and careful in the shower...
missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
My mãe is a ninja and that´s ok with me
Well, school is officially under way, and let me tell you: it is a *much* different lifestyle walking to school every day and in looking both ways to cross the street, I see the sea to one side and a fruit kiosk (99% of the time) to the other. I could get used to this (but don´t worry, people who fear I´ll never return..I do have a return plane ticket....as of now).
First things first, though: previously I said that Salvador is one hour ahead of EST..apparently, I was mistaken (don´t get used to hearing that) -- it´s two hours ahead.
Another item I must address is the fact that ´´Portuguese´´ is not spelled S-P-A-N-I-S-H. A common misconception is that, ´´Oh! Brazil! You speak Spanish, you´ll be fine!´´ Well, while granted, it does help, if it were the same, I would not be getting so many blank stares when I don´t know a word so I guess with its Spanish equivalent and pretend like I do. Turns out I´m not fooling anyone. Sometimes I luck out and the word is the same, but let it be known that Portuguese is, in fact, its own language. And though I haven´t yet had any catastrophic foot-in-mouth ´´what did I *really* just say?´´ moments, I´m sure that day is not far off.
Since the last time I wrote, I´ve just been adjusting to the Bahian lifestyle, and it doesn´t take much. I spent part of Sunday at the beach, and I also visited the lighthouse (Farol da Barra), which is at the end of the part of the beach that I went to.
Monday was my first day of school (back to school, back to school...), and lots of other students started on Monday, too. A whole bunch come from Switzerland, a couple of people from the U.S., one from Argentina, one from Norway, one from England, and there might be a couple of other countries thrown into the mix. In my class, we are three students total -- one girl from Switzerland, one guy from Norway, and me. The teacher this week is Rômulo (the teacher changes every so often; I´m not sure how frequently, but it´s so people get to know different teachers), and after two hours of class, we have recess -- I mean, a smoke break (that´s how they explained it to me in English)...I mean, ´´uma pausa´´ (10 minutes or so to take a break and chat amongst ourselves, get a drink, etc.). And then we go back for another hour and a half of class. After class on Monday, I got lunch and hit the beach with Veronica (from Argentina) and then we went back to school in time for the guided excursion to Pelourinho, the ´´downtown´´ of Salvador. It lasted several hours, we saw museums, churches, the inside of a capoeira school, etc., and some people ended up getting dinner afterwards. Who would have thought that dinner (as in, the actual act of eating) would be an experience in itself? My dish (shrimp with garlic) came and smelled delicious...it just took a LOT of peeling of shells to be able to eat. No one else at our big table ordered it, and though it turns out that this dish is one that that restaurant is known for (I didn´t know until I got home later that the restaurant was in my guidebook), the restaurant waited until several minutes into my ´´project´´ before bringing me a cloth napkin and a bowl to wash my hands. A workout and a meal all in one, but mmm was it delicious! I just won´t order it again.
Today (Tuesday) was another day of class. After class, Veronica and I went back to the beach and then returned to school -- this time for what would be our first (and last) capoeira class. I knew beforehand it probably wouldn´t be for me, but it looks awesome on the street..and in the interest of giving things a shot before I actually decide they aren´t for me, I did the class. Surprisingly, I did learn some capoeira moves (even if only the basics), but I´m still several cartwheels away from actually being a contender. That´s cool, though. After capoeira, Veronica and I caught the bus to Pelourinho to do my homework, and we made it 15 minutes early (but still too late to get a seat) to 6 o´clock mass. Apparently, Wednesdays at the Rosário dos Pretos church is a hotspot and all the cool locals show up and play instruments and sing songs. Me, I just had to go for my homework. And then, after 45 minutes, enough was enough, all that Deus talk started to jumble together anyway, and we headed out. Not a bad feeling when you can just walk out on your homework assignments! Don´t tell Rômulo..
Another thing I´ve learned here is that I think my summer clothes must be Bahia´s winter clothes, because it´s so hot that no matter how few clothes you (or, I) wear here, it´s still too many! And people say that wearing those dental floss bathing suits in Brazil is merely for fashion...I´m not so sure!
One final thing I should tell you (unless the secret grapevine from my Salvador house has found its way to yours) is ..... I live with a *ninja*. It´s true! The day I arrived, she cut up a coconut and in three swift slices of the knife, there was a glass of coconut milk in front of me. Then today, I woke up and the apartment was silent, I sat down to eat breakfast, and there she was beside me; she then said she was going to make pineapple juice, so she went in the kitchen and comes back 2 seconds and 2 pushes of blender buttons later with a whole pitcher of pineapple juice. Some people might call her mãe ´´mom´´ but I caught on and I caught on fast...at least we get along well, though! Hopefully, she´ll teach me some cool tricks in the next several weeks.
Anyway, now that I´ve let you in on my secret, it´s y´alls turn to reciprocate.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
Missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
First things first, though: previously I said that Salvador is one hour ahead of EST..apparently, I was mistaken (don´t get used to hearing that) -- it´s two hours ahead.
Another item I must address is the fact that ´´Portuguese´´ is not spelled S-P-A-N-I-S-H. A common misconception is that, ´´Oh! Brazil! You speak Spanish, you´ll be fine!´´ Well, while granted, it does help, if it were the same, I would not be getting so many blank stares when I don´t know a word so I guess with its Spanish equivalent and pretend like I do. Turns out I´m not fooling anyone. Sometimes I luck out and the word is the same, but let it be known that Portuguese is, in fact, its own language. And though I haven´t yet had any catastrophic foot-in-mouth ´´what did I *really* just say?´´ moments, I´m sure that day is not far off.
Since the last time I wrote, I´ve just been adjusting to the Bahian lifestyle, and it doesn´t take much. I spent part of Sunday at the beach, and I also visited the lighthouse (Farol da Barra), which is at the end of the part of the beach that I went to.
Monday was my first day of school (back to school, back to school...), and lots of other students started on Monday, too. A whole bunch come from Switzerland, a couple of people from the U.S., one from Argentina, one from Norway, one from England, and there might be a couple of other countries thrown into the mix. In my class, we are three students total -- one girl from Switzerland, one guy from Norway, and me. The teacher this week is Rômulo (the teacher changes every so often; I´m not sure how frequently, but it´s so people get to know different teachers), and after two hours of class, we have recess -- I mean, a smoke break (that´s how they explained it to me in English)...I mean, ´´uma pausa´´ (10 minutes or so to take a break and chat amongst ourselves, get a drink, etc.). And then we go back for another hour and a half of class. After class on Monday, I got lunch and hit the beach with Veronica (from Argentina) and then we went back to school in time for the guided excursion to Pelourinho, the ´´downtown´´ of Salvador. It lasted several hours, we saw museums, churches, the inside of a capoeira school, etc., and some people ended up getting dinner afterwards. Who would have thought that dinner (as in, the actual act of eating) would be an experience in itself? My dish (shrimp with garlic) came and smelled delicious...it just took a LOT of peeling of shells to be able to eat. No one else at our big table ordered it, and though it turns out that this dish is one that that restaurant is known for (I didn´t know until I got home later that the restaurant was in my guidebook), the restaurant waited until several minutes into my ´´project´´ before bringing me a cloth napkin and a bowl to wash my hands. A workout and a meal all in one, but mmm was it delicious! I just won´t order it again.
Today (Tuesday) was another day of class. After class, Veronica and I went back to the beach and then returned to school -- this time for what would be our first (and last) capoeira class. I knew beforehand it probably wouldn´t be for me, but it looks awesome on the street..and in the interest of giving things a shot before I actually decide they aren´t for me, I did the class. Surprisingly, I did learn some capoeira moves (even if only the basics), but I´m still several cartwheels away from actually being a contender. That´s cool, though. After capoeira, Veronica and I caught the bus to Pelourinho to do my homework, and we made it 15 minutes early (but still too late to get a seat) to 6 o´clock mass. Apparently, Wednesdays at the Rosário dos Pretos church is a hotspot and all the cool locals show up and play instruments and sing songs. Me, I just had to go for my homework. And then, after 45 minutes, enough was enough, all that Deus talk started to jumble together anyway, and we headed out. Not a bad feeling when you can just walk out on your homework assignments! Don´t tell Rômulo..
Another thing I´ve learned here is that I think my summer clothes must be Bahia´s winter clothes, because it´s so hot that no matter how few clothes you (or, I) wear here, it´s still too many! And people say that wearing those dental floss bathing suits in Brazil is merely for fashion...I´m not so sure!
One final thing I should tell you (unless the secret grapevine from my Salvador house has found its way to yours) is
Anyway, now that I´ve let you in on my secret, it´s y´alls turn to reciprocate.
Hope all is well wherever you are.
Missy :)
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Life´s a beach...so don´t forget your sunscreen
Greetings from South America!...where I have yet to see a cloud in the sky and yes, have already hit the beach once. It seems like a long time ago in a winter far, far away that the (female) security guard at Dulles Airport gave me some ´´good luck pats,´´ although she didn´t seem to know they were such. She let me go with a small piece of advice for my next trip through the airport: to wear clothes with less metal on it (yeah, whatever -- it´s not like I wore a lot). I then proceeded to my gate, where I took a seat near two Brazilians who clearly didn´t know each other, but were speaking at lightning speed anyway. I sat down there just to listen, to see if I could catch anything (it had already been two weeks since my last Portuguese class), and before long, I learned my very first lesson of the trip (and so far there have been many).
1) Apparently, I can pass for being Brazilian. So, sitting next to these Brazilians, I was surprised to be able to understand a good chunk of what they were saying. Not everything (even if they didn´t stop in between sentences, I needed a listening break), but a lot. Then, judgment day came when I happened to sneeze and the woman (maybe in her 60s) said (in English), ´´Bless you,´´ to which I responded (in Portuguese), ``Obrigada´´ (thank you). (She blessed me, after all -- the least I could do was thank her in her native language.) She then said, ´´Oh, you´re Brazilian.´´ I said I wasn´t (this was still in Portuguese), and then I became part of their conversation, which slowed down significantly (thank Deus).
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The flight to Rio de Janeiro was pretty uneventful, until the end, when it arrived a half hour late and I had to go through immigration, get my bag, and then do customs, before checking in again, only to find out that my next flight was already boarding (so much for layovers!). I made the flight and they even gave us chocolates on board (what´s not to like?).
When I arrived at my homestay in Salvador, my host mom (mãe) was there to greet me with a big hug. That´s Eliene. 53 years old, social worker, works at the university helping students settle in to the university and adjust and whatnot. We chatted for a good portion of the afternoon and I also met my host sister, Auana. She´s 25, got her degree in journalism, just had her wisdom teeth out the day before I arrived. Ouch. Talking proved a little difficult for her, but we managed. Even so, her Portuguese was still way better than mine. I guess that makes sense -- she´s Brazilian.
That first night was straight out of any Portuguese class textbook. For dinner, we had moqueca and then I watched Eliene make suco de maracujá (passion fruit juice)...mmmm. But I also learned another very important lesson.
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2) You´ve heard of the phrase, ´´careful what you wish for´´? How about ´´careful what you offer´´? Since I spent a lot of time with Eliene during the day (some of it while she was cleaning the kitchen), I had offered to help. She had said no, it´s okay, and we proceeded to chat (something she loves to do and does well). After dinner, I helped clear the table, and suddenly I found myself doing favors already (hanging up the laundry, putting things in the fridge, filling up the water containers, etc.). Well, I wanted to learn. And now I have -- first day, shmirst day, we´re hitting the ground running!
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Saturday was the start to the weekend, and for a person as indecisive as myself, I realized it´s funny...I chose Salvador after reading about it in a guidebook and then doing some follow-up research, and now here I am, as sure as ever that it´s the right place to be. Eliene took me to the beach yesterday, where we even did some bargaining (she started it -- and I partook in the action..obviously). Later in the day, she was going to the hair salon and asked me if I wanted to go with her, so I did. On this excursion, I learned some other notable things.
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3) Sometimes it´s okay to forgo the five-second rule, and boy is it delicious! Before the hair appointment, we walked through a nearby park, where there were lots of mangoes that had fallen from the trees. Eliene picked up a few of them and when we went back to the salon, she had the guy in the sandwich shop next door wash them off. I ate one of them while I waited for her. Kind of a mess, but totally worth it.
4) Apparently, I also look like ´´that actress from Titanic´´ (Kate Winslet). There was a girl at the salon, whom Eliene spent a lot of time talking to (I waited outside -- the salon is small), and after she was finished, the three of us started talking. That girl is Cecilia. She is 23, a dentist, and lives down the street. I guess in the salon, Eliene had said that I was there with her, so Cecilia looked out the window and saw me and told Eliene that I look like ´´that actress from Titanic.´´
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I had plans to go to the movies with Auana, but Eliene invited Cecilia, who ended up coming (it was fine). Turns out they had met once before anyway, so it wasn´t awkward or anything. We ended up taking the bus 45 minutes away (only that long because we took the scenic route, through different neighborhoods) to the huge mall where the cineplex is. Unfortunately, we got there too late to see the movie we were going to see (a Brazilian movie), so we saw an American one instead, ´´Things We Lost in the Fire´´. Here the movies are all in the original language, with Portuguese subtitles, so it was still helpful even though it was in English because I followed along watching the subtitles.
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5) Not having a to-do list is one of life´s greatest pleasures, if you allow yourself the opportunity. I am now living in Salvador, Brazil. My biggest decision yesterday was whether I should let myself take a nap in the afternoon or not (I did). Today, I´m not sure what it will be. But I am going to enjoy walking slowly when I leave the internet cafe to go to the beach, a far cry from my old desire to always walk quickly to get everywhere not because of aerobic activity but just because I clearly had somewhere to *be*.
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A few final thoughts for the day: There is a one-hour time different between Salvador and EST. Salvador is one hour ahead.
While my first few days of not knowing where the internet cafe was and not having a cell phone were lovely, I am now connected to civilization again. I will have internet at school, which starts tomorrow (though I don´t know how many computers there are, how many students, etc.), and I have a cell. My number here is: (5571) 9169-6416. To call from the U.S., I believe you would have to dial 011-55 (country code)-71 (city code)-9169-6416. To call from Europe, I think it would be 00-55-71...etc.
And that´s it from here. I hope all of you are well in your respective places around the world, and I hope to hear updates from all of you soon!
Abraços,
Missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com/
1) Apparently, I can pass for being Brazilian. So, sitting next to these Brazilians, I was surprised to be able to understand a good chunk of what they were saying. Not everything (even if they didn´t stop in between sentences, I needed a listening break), but a lot. Then, judgment day came when I happened to sneeze and the woman (maybe in her 60s) said (in English), ´´Bless you,´´ to which I responded (in Portuguese), ``Obrigada´´ (thank you). (She blessed me, after all -- the least I could do was thank her in her native language.) She then said, ´´Oh, you´re Brazilian.´´ I said I wasn´t (this was still in Portuguese), and then I became part of their conversation, which slowed down significantly (thank Deus).
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The flight to Rio de Janeiro was pretty uneventful, until the end, when it arrived a half hour late and I had to go through immigration, get my bag, and then do customs, before checking in again, only to find out that my next flight was already boarding (so much for layovers!). I made the flight and they even gave us chocolates on board (what´s not to like?).
When I arrived at my homestay in Salvador, my host mom (mãe) was there to greet me with a big hug. That´s Eliene. 53 years old, social worker, works at the university helping students settle in to the university and adjust and whatnot. We chatted for a good portion of the afternoon and I also met my host sister, Auana. She´s 25, got her degree in journalism, just had her wisdom teeth out the day before I arrived. Ouch. Talking proved a little difficult for her, but we managed. Even so, her Portuguese was still way better than mine. I guess that makes sense -- she´s Brazilian.
That first night was straight out of any Portuguese class textbook. For dinner, we had moqueca and then I watched Eliene make suco de maracujá (passion fruit juice)...mmmm. But I also learned another very important lesson.
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2) You´ve heard of the phrase, ´´careful what you wish for´´? How about ´´careful what you offer´´? Since I spent a lot of time with Eliene during the day (some of it while she was cleaning the kitchen), I had offered to help. She had said no, it´s okay, and we proceeded to chat (something she loves to do and does well). After dinner, I helped clear the table, and suddenly I found myself doing favors already (hanging up the laundry, putting things in the fridge, filling up the water containers, etc.). Well, I wanted to learn. And now I have -- first day, shmirst day, we´re hitting the ground running!
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Saturday was the start to the weekend, and for a person as indecisive as myself, I realized it´s funny...I chose Salvador after reading about it in a guidebook and then doing some follow-up research, and now here I am, as sure as ever that it´s the right place to be. Eliene took me to the beach yesterday, where we even did some bargaining (she started it -- and I partook in the action..obviously). Later in the day, she was going to the hair salon and asked me if I wanted to go with her, so I did. On this excursion, I learned some other notable things.
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3) Sometimes it´s okay to forgo the five-second rule, and boy is it delicious! Before the hair appointment, we walked through a nearby park, where there were lots of mangoes that had fallen from the trees. Eliene picked up a few of them and when we went back to the salon, she had the guy in the sandwich shop next door wash them off. I ate one of them while I waited for her. Kind of a mess, but totally worth it.
4) Apparently, I also look like ´´that actress from Titanic´´ (Kate Winslet). There was a girl at the salon, whom Eliene spent a lot of time talking to (I waited outside -- the salon is small), and after she was finished, the three of us started talking. That girl is Cecilia. She is 23, a dentist, and lives down the street. I guess in the salon, Eliene had said that I was there with her, so Cecilia looked out the window and saw me and told Eliene that I look like ´´that actress from Titanic.´´
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I had plans to go to the movies with Auana, but Eliene invited Cecilia, who ended up coming (it was fine). Turns out they had met once before anyway, so it wasn´t awkward or anything. We ended up taking the bus 45 minutes away (only that long because we took the scenic route, through different neighborhoods) to the huge mall where the cineplex is. Unfortunately, we got there too late to see the movie we were going to see (a Brazilian movie), so we saw an American one instead, ´´Things We Lost in the Fire´´. Here the movies are all in the original language, with Portuguese subtitles, so it was still helpful even though it was in English because I followed along watching the subtitles.
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5) Not having a to-do list is one of life´s greatest pleasures, if you allow yourself the opportunity. I am now living in Salvador, Brazil. My biggest decision yesterday was whether I should let myself take a nap in the afternoon or not (I did). Today, I´m not sure what it will be. But I am going to enjoy walking slowly when I leave the internet cafe to go to the beach, a far cry from my old desire to always walk quickly to get everywhere not because of aerobic activity but just because I clearly had somewhere to *be*.
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A few final thoughts for the day: There is a one-hour time different between Salvador and EST. Salvador is one hour ahead.
While my first few days of not knowing where the internet cafe was and not having a cell phone were lovely, I am now connected to civilization again. I will have internet at school, which starts tomorrow (though I don´t know how many computers there are, how many students, etc.), and I have a cell. My number here is: (5571) 9169-6416. To call from the U.S., I believe you would have to dial 011-55 (country code)-71 (city code)-9169-6416. To call from Europe, I think it would be 00-55-71...etc.
And that´s it from here. I hope all of you are well in your respective places around the world, and I hope to hear updates from all of you soon!
Abraços,
Missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com/
Thursday, January 3, 2008
It's not just a new year; it's a whole new way of life
Friends, family, and others who somehow found themselves here,
So here I am, at the beginning of a four-month long adventure. Well, that's what the plane tickets say for now, but the adventure is one that will undoubtedly continue indefinitely. Having recently left my paralegal job, I am now embarking on a "superviaje" ("supertrip"), if you will.
"Why am I doing this?" you may ask.
"Why *aren't* you?" I might respond.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, whether you're in a big city or not, it's important to remember that there's always life outside the bubble in which you live. And if you don't take the time to see for yourself what else is out there and experience it for yourself, you might never know what you're missing by taking everyone else's word for it.
So, I've given up my life at a desk job and have decided that people in person are much more enriching than people-dot-com. Of course, it always depends on the characters you meet. I invite you to follow along with me during the adventure and to tune in to check out the people I encounter along the way. And if you find yourself on the road in South America (or Europe, for that matter) during the next four months, let me know where you'll be and maybe that will include you.
Anyway, that's it for now, because I have a plane to catch. First stop? Salvador, Brazil.
Thanks, gracias, merci, obrigada, grazie, shoukran, etc. in advance for reading.
Until the next time, and of course, a happy and healthy new year to all.
Abraços,
Missy :)
So here I am, at the beginning of a four-month long adventure. Well, that's what the plane tickets say for now, but the adventure is one that will undoubtedly continue indefinitely. Having recently left my paralegal job, I am now embarking on a "superviaje" ("supertrip"), if you will.
"Why am I doing this?" you may ask.
"Why *aren't* you?" I might respond.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, whether you're in a big city or not, it's important to remember that there's always life outside the bubble in which you live. And if you don't take the time to see for yourself what else is out there and experience it for yourself, you might never know what you're missing by taking everyone else's word for it.
So, I've given up my life at a desk job and have decided that people in person are much more enriching than people-dot-com. Of course, it always depends on the characters you meet. I invite you to follow along with me during the adventure and to tune in to check out the people I encounter along the way. And if you find yourself on the road in South America (or Europe, for that matter) during the next four months, let me know where you'll be and maybe that will include you.
Anyway, that's it for now, because I have a plane to catch. First stop? Salvador, Brazil.
Thanks, gracias, merci, obrigada, grazie, shoukran, etc. in advance for reading.
Until the next time, and of course, a happy and healthy new year to all.
Abraços,
Missy :)
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