Lets start this off with a random fact: Today in Brazil is the beginning of Day Light Savings Time...this is funny to me..just last year around this time I asked my friend if day light savings time exsisted in other countries...
As of Sunday October 11, I am another year older. I spent my birthday weekend in the city of Garuja..a place famous for its beaches. I spent four nights and two complete days there with my second family and their friends. Friday I went to a sushi restaurant for the first time...I was assured by a man named Chico that there was a very good hospital near by..so it was alright to try everything... :) Saturday I was given a tour by car of the town and its scenic locations. I was taken to a very nice restaurant..(Food is very very significant here..everthing is good. Not everything..but 9 out of 10 new foods I try I love..I have never had an unsatisfying meal and I am starting to show signs of that) After food there was shopping and birthday presents. Much later my friends Lucas(Brazilian) and Aleck (Tiwainese) called me up...they just happened to be in the same city located at least four hours away from where we all live...and invited me to hang out with them. I got dressed with the help of the two daughters in the household...borrowing their clothes and jewlery..and then before Lucas and Aleck arrived I spent some time with the two daughters and their friends while a very handsom Brazilian guy played guitar.
My birthday started very early with the singing of Parabems...at 12:00 am on OCT 11...in a car full of people I didnt know and didnt speak english...It was cool..beyond that the night was uneventful...and I returned the the house where I was staying and stayed up late talking with the daughters and their friend.
MY BIRTHDAY DAY!!! I went to the beach. The beaches here are different. This beach stretched at least a mile and a quarter and all along the beach are venders and cantinas and ...There were tons of people...but not in the water. Practically the only people in the water (Atlantic) were the sufers because it was a bit chilly. The thing to do on the beaches here when you are not drinking, playing some sport or in the water is parade up and down the beach...and at some point in your day at the beach...everyone does it. Theres so many people..it reminded me of traffic. All you do is walk. It is nice.. Another nice thing about beaches here is that really know one cares...I was the whitest person on the beach...no one even came close to my transparent color...but no one cared.. No one cares...no one judges..no one looks anyone else up and down.. The Brazilians really seemed to be content with themselves at the beach and nothing else mattered nothing else phased them...
After my beaching, there was time for relaxation and then a little later a BBQ birthday party. The daughters invited their boys and their friends and Lucas, Alick and family came and of course my second family was there...so it was a nice part with good people..Later there was a huge, beautiful chocolate cake..(however..I think they over do cakes here with multiple fillings and different flavors...I prefer cake in the states I think)
My birthday did not stop there however, just yesterday was the third singing of Parabems(Congradulations..brazilian version of Happy Birthday and for Hes a jolly good fellow all wrapped into one) with candles set in icecream.. Ohh Icecream...I found my favorite type of icecream here..Milho...or corn. Seriously, it is amazing.
Things I have noticed:
-Girls do not shave above their knees
-Homes do not have basements
-Almost all young girls have long hair
-People of all ages are wearing braces
-Brazilians love the TV series "House"and "Friends"
-Futbol..Soccer...is practically a religion
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Typical Day
Sometimes it just hits me..I am living here. I am starting to feel the rythm of it all and a comfortable routine is falling into place. On the weekdays, Segunda feira though Sexta feira, I wake up at six o'clock with a knock on my door from my host mother and the words "bom dia". After my primping and prepping I go to the kitchen for breakfast which almost everyday is mamao, a type of melon, freshly made orange juice and toast. Lucy makes the toast on the stove in a skillet and uses bread from the bakery.
My school, Liceau, starts at seven o'clock, but not a day goes by that student walks into class a bit late. There are no detentions given. The student gives a polite excuse me and then goes to his seat. The normal days at school seem to last for much longer than in actuality. I still cannot understand the teachers and so I will make vocab sheets, go over old vocab, look at work from my Portuguese class and when I am not doing that I am day dreaming.
After school everyday I am given a ride home from Fernando's (Tiago's best friend) mother. I enter my apartment first through two security gates. I say "oi" to the security guard on duty and make my way to the elevator which I take to the top floor, 16. When I come home I greet my parents with a hug and a kiss to the side of the face. I set my school things in my room and then we eat lunch.
My midafternoon life has a good variation to it. There really is no exact schedule to it and I do not think there will be one. I like it like this.
This weekend I went to a wedding in Sao Paulo. This wedding like the other one was not in a church. instead it was at a really nice house. The music for the actual ceromony was not at all traditional. Again there were waiters brought around food and drink. The dancing was again great and the main event. As in the first wedding I went, hats and masks and glow lights were passed out on the dance floor.
I actually met another "gringo" from New York at the wedding. He, a graduate of Columbia, and a man with a really interesting life story, explained this to me. Things are more expensive here because Brazil is a third world country...Here exists the extremely poor and the very wealthy. The poor do not shop in stores and so stores are made for the wealthy. The wealthy can afford higher prices and so items are more expensive. It is true. Clothes, shoes, electronics are all more expensive here than in the states. I spent 22 raeis this afternoon on a bar of cetaphil soap.
However, produce seems to be less expensive here.
My school, Liceau, starts at seven o'clock, but not a day goes by that student walks into class a bit late. There are no detentions given. The student gives a polite excuse me and then goes to his seat. The normal days at school seem to last for much longer than in actuality. I still cannot understand the teachers and so I will make vocab sheets, go over old vocab, look at work from my Portuguese class and when I am not doing that I am day dreaming.
After school everyday I am given a ride home from Fernando's (Tiago's best friend) mother. I enter my apartment first through two security gates. I say "oi" to the security guard on duty and make my way to the elevator which I take to the top floor, 16. When I come home I greet my parents with a hug and a kiss to the side of the face. I set my school things in my room and then we eat lunch.
My midafternoon life has a good variation to it. There really is no exact schedule to it and I do not think there will be one. I like it like this.
This weekend I went to a wedding in Sao Paulo. This wedding like the other one was not in a church. instead it was at a really nice house. The music for the actual ceromony was not at all traditional. Again there were waiters brought around food and drink. The dancing was again great and the main event. As in the first wedding I went, hats and masks and glow lights were passed out on the dance floor.
I actually met another "gringo" from New York at the wedding. He, a graduate of Columbia, and a man with a really interesting life story, explained this to me. Things are more expensive here because Brazil is a third world country...Here exists the extremely poor and the very wealthy. The poor do not shop in stores and so stores are made for the wealthy. The wealthy can afford higher prices and so items are more expensive. It is true. Clothes, shoes, electronics are all more expensive here than in the states. I spent 22 raeis this afternoon on a bar of cetaphil soap.
However, produce seems to be less expensive here.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
My time of the year
Today is the first of October, my favorite month. October holds the two best days of the year, my birthday and Halloween. In Ohio around this time of year, I can feel the season in my soul..and I love it. The love the erieness it has to it. If I was a month, I would be this month...
Here, however it is not Auntum. For Brazilians, Octobro means the beginning of summer. Recently the weather has been unusually chilly but it feels like home to me.
Last night I performed "I Could Have Danced All Night" for a group of business people who were giving presentations of their work. I was the opening for the night. After my performance I had to leave for my dance class and some people were openly dissapointed that I couldn't sing more. It felt good. I have been singing a lot lately. I cannot imagine how unhappy I would be had I not brought my music.
I have much planned for the weekend. Friday I will be going to some musical performance, I do exactly understand what it is, but I know that the show sold out. I am going with photogrophers from my rotary club, so I will be watching from back stage. As I said, I am not sure what will be going on, but I have a feeling I am going to love it.
Saturday I believe I am going to another wedding. So when I return for my next blog I should have something entertaining to write about.
Somethings I've noticed:
-On Wednesday when I came home from school I was in the lobby of my appartment building waiting for the elevator when I here blaring classical music from outside. Where was this music coming from? It was coming from a huge truck that was collecting peoples recycling...like an icecream truck it blares music so that people know it is coming. Recycling and classical music. Isn't it perfect?
-I of course noticed this along time ago, but I do not recall if I wrote about it. Here, toilet paper goes into the trash can, not the toilet.
Here, however it is not Auntum. For Brazilians, Octobro means the beginning of summer. Recently the weather has been unusually chilly but it feels like home to me.
Last night I performed "I Could Have Danced All Night" for a group of business people who were giving presentations of their work. I was the opening for the night. After my performance I had to leave for my dance class and some people were openly dissapointed that I couldn't sing more. It felt good. I have been singing a lot lately. I cannot imagine how unhappy I would be had I not brought my music.
I have much planned for the weekend. Friday I will be going to some musical performance, I do exactly understand what it is, but I know that the show sold out. I am going with photogrophers from my rotary club, so I will be watching from back stage. As I said, I am not sure what will be going on, but I have a feeling I am going to love it.
Saturday I believe I am going to another wedding. So when I return for my next blog I should have something entertaining to write about.
Somethings I've noticed:
-On Wednesday when I came home from school I was in the lobby of my appartment building waiting for the elevator when I here blaring classical music from outside. Where was this music coming from? It was coming from a huge truck that was collecting peoples recycling...like an icecream truck it blares music so that people know it is coming. Recycling and classical music. Isn't it perfect?
-I of course noticed this along time ago, but I do not recall if I wrote about it. Here, toilet paper goes into the trash can, not the toilet.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)