Rio de Janeiro
It is 4:55 a.m. I am leaving for Rio de Janeiro right now, so I do not have time to type much more. I will return on Monday. Tuesday night I will board a plane in Sao Paulo and head back home to Ohio. My bags are all packed and waiting for me.
Foz do Iguacu
Last weekend I traveled with my friend from Mexico 15 hours by bus to the most famous waterfalls (cataratas) in South America. The city of Foz do Iguacu is located on the border of Paraguay, Agentina and Brazil. It was so much better than Niagara Falls. Absolutely mind blowing and beautiful. After being in the presence of something that beautiful, that majestic I felt like there was nothing more to see in the world. I joked with the group that we were site-seeing with that because of this "I felt ready for death".
Just Emotion
Within the past ten months there has been countless times (like at the waterfalls) when I have stopped, observed the situation I was in, and decided that I did not need anything else. I have had this returning thought that I have been overly fortunate, beyond what I deserve. At many points I found it hard to believe in reality, and thought many times that the fullness of my early life must be making up for an unbalance that I will have in the future. I am humbled at what has been given to me, the travel, the experience, the friendships, the challenges, the growth. What I feel is beyond my ability to express and sometimes I fear words because of there ability to simplify and dull. My soul is a mixture of emotions, so shaken up that it is almost impossible to separate one from the other. Am I happy? Yes of course but at the same time my heart feels like it is in my throat every time I look at the clock. There is one very clear and distinct feeling however, and that is of thankfulness. I am so thankful to my sister who in 2008 made me apply to be an exchange student as her Christmas gift. I am very thankful to all those back home who supported my decision to come such as my teachers and my Rotary club. I feel I am in great debt to my host families here in Brazil, who have taken care of me above and beyond what was expected of them. I am thankful to my real family back home, who after some fidgeting became my greatest supporters.
The past ten months of my life have been so exaggerated in terms of activities and emotions that to me it hardly seems like real life. There is a good chance that when looking back, the only way I'll be able to tell the difference between life fiction and nonfiction will be my poorly written blog or messy diary. It will be these archives that will remind me of all the things I have to "pay forward". These people, this experience, has given me great things. It will be my duty to give this greatness back to the world.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
Começo do Fim
Tempo
I have three more weeks in Brazil. When the next few weeks comes to an end I will be able to say that Brazil was the fastest 10 months of my life. Thank God I kept a diary and blog because trying to look back on the things I have done without them is almost impossible. This time has gone and continues to go by in a blur.
Começo do Fim
The beginning of the end started last wednesday when my best friend for over the past nine months boarded a plane and flew back to Colombia. Andrea started the process of sadness and heart break and the process will repeat with two more of my good friends before it is my turn. As always, it sucks to say goodbye, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing these people again. We are all bound to be travelers.
Chegada
Though this month is going to be remembered as the epoc of returns, I will not allow myself to ignore the arrival of a new intercambista from Mexico. Two days before Andrea left, arrived a very nice Mexican. I went with my Rotarian friend to the airport to pick him up last Monday and already since that time he has become a friend.
Aborismo
Yesterday I went to Aguas de São Pedros with my intercambio freinds Justin (South Africa), Daniel (Mexico), Ana Thereasa and her father (Brazilians who have lived abroad). There we did a obstacle course in trees, about 60ft off the ground. As I glided through the course I realized I did not have a fear of heights and openly laughed at the boys I was with who did. The obstacle course was fantactic. The best part was the end, the final obstacle where I was the most nervous. One could choose to repel down the 60ft ish tree or jump with ones gear which would be a 30 ft free fall until the ropes tighten and stop you, fallowed by a lowering to the ground. I was first to decide the way to get down and chose the free fall. I made the man on the ground promise me I wouldn't die before I jumped. After me went the two boys. One jumped then upon landing walked directly to his pack of cigarettes and the other upon landing shook for a good ten minutes after.
Serenade
Two weekends ago was my Rotary districts conference in Aguas de Sao Pedros. The weekend was especially fun in that the exchange students got to be with each other, most of them for the last time. The weekend was full of jokes, and perforamce and great food but the best part for me was the last night in the hotel lobby. After coming back from the rotary ball I stopped in my hotel lobby to greet a man named Carlos, an owner of a small specialty food and beverage shop, who I had befriended a few months earlier in a previous visit to the city of Aguas. Carlos remembered me and introduced me to the man who had been preforming in the lobby earlier. He and his band had just finsished, the crowd had gone and they were packing up their things. After talking with Carlos and the singer Roberto Rosendo, the man gave me an autographed CD and then began to play music for me. He was very very good. He sang light folk music and loves songs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Iltalian and French. His English accent was really cute, for an old guy. Roberto's facial characteristics alone made me smile, but in concord with them was his round brimmed straw hat and his bow tie that reached an epic height of cheesey greatness that I could not get enough of. This man and his band played just for me, Carlos and Martha, Carlos' wife, for 20 minutes until my freinds came to the lobby looking for me. Then my freinds joined the group and Roberto sang on, with more songs in more languages and genres including comedy which made us all laugh and tragedy which made a few of us cry. The music went on and on and I just couldnt believe my luck. I had seen the man performing earlier and admired his talent from a far, and never imagined that I and a small group of my closest friends would be gifted a private show. He was major talent. The best live male voice I have heard in my 19 years. I will be attending another one of his shows here in Piracicaba on the 18th. We have plans to meet Carlos and Martha.
Brazil 101-
-Some Brazilians argue (argued with me) that prostituation houses are a part of their culture.
- The majority of electricity produced in Brazil is hydro-electric power.
-Some Brazilians enjoy making light fun of the Portuguese
Sergios Joke:
- There once was a Portuguese scientist doing some experiments on spiders. The scientist began and pulled out one leg from a spider and then demanded the spider to "anda!" or walk, and the spider walked. The scientst continued and pulled out a second leg from the spider then demanded it to "anda!" and the spider continued to walk. The man repeated this process until the spider had but 1 leg left. The Portuguese scientist continued and pulled out the spiders last leg then demanded the spider to "anda!" but the spider did not move.
-After repeating a series of theses experiments the Portuguese scientist concluded that leg-less spiders cannot hear.
I have three more weeks in Brazil. When the next few weeks comes to an end I will be able to say that Brazil was the fastest 10 months of my life. Thank God I kept a diary and blog because trying to look back on the things I have done without them is almost impossible. This time has gone and continues to go by in a blur.
Começo do Fim
The beginning of the end started last wednesday when my best friend for over the past nine months boarded a plane and flew back to Colombia. Andrea started the process of sadness and heart break and the process will repeat with two more of my good friends before it is my turn. As always, it sucks to say goodbye, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing these people again. We are all bound to be travelers.
Chegada
Though this month is going to be remembered as the epoc of returns, I will not allow myself to ignore the arrival of a new intercambista from Mexico. Two days before Andrea left, arrived a very nice Mexican. I went with my Rotarian friend to the airport to pick him up last Monday and already since that time he has become a friend.
Aborismo
Yesterday I went to Aguas de São Pedros with my intercambio freinds Justin (South Africa), Daniel (Mexico), Ana Thereasa and her father (Brazilians who have lived abroad). There we did a obstacle course in trees, about 60ft off the ground. As I glided through the course I realized I did not have a fear of heights and openly laughed at the boys I was with who did. The obstacle course was fantactic. The best part was the end, the final obstacle where I was the most nervous. One could choose to repel down the 60ft ish tree or jump with ones gear which would be a 30 ft free fall until the ropes tighten and stop you, fallowed by a lowering to the ground. I was first to decide the way to get down and chose the free fall. I made the man on the ground promise me I wouldn't die before I jumped. After me went the two boys. One jumped then upon landing walked directly to his pack of cigarettes and the other upon landing shook for a good ten minutes after.
Serenade
Two weekends ago was my Rotary districts conference in Aguas de Sao Pedros. The weekend was especially fun in that the exchange students got to be with each other, most of them for the last time. The weekend was full of jokes, and perforamce and great food but the best part for me was the last night in the hotel lobby. After coming back from the rotary ball I stopped in my hotel lobby to greet a man named Carlos, an owner of a small specialty food and beverage shop, who I had befriended a few months earlier in a previous visit to the city of Aguas. Carlos remembered me and introduced me to the man who had been preforming in the lobby earlier. He and his band had just finsished, the crowd had gone and they were packing up their things. After talking with Carlos and the singer Roberto Rosendo, the man gave me an autographed CD and then began to play music for me. He was very very good. He sang light folk music and loves songs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, Iltalian and French. His English accent was really cute, for an old guy. Roberto's facial characteristics alone made me smile, but in concord with them was his round brimmed straw hat and his bow tie that reached an epic height of cheesey greatness that I could not get enough of. This man and his band played just for me, Carlos and Martha, Carlos' wife, for 20 minutes until my freinds came to the lobby looking for me. Then my freinds joined the group and Roberto sang on, with more songs in more languages and genres including comedy which made us all laugh and tragedy which made a few of us cry. The music went on and on and I just couldnt believe my luck. I had seen the man performing earlier and admired his talent from a far, and never imagined that I and a small group of my closest friends would be gifted a private show. He was major talent. The best live male voice I have heard in my 19 years. I will be attending another one of his shows here in Piracicaba on the 18th. We have plans to meet Carlos and Martha.
Brazil 101-
-Some Brazilians argue (argued with me) that prostituation houses are a part of their culture.
- The majority of electricity produced in Brazil is hydro-electric power.
-Some Brazilians enjoy making light fun of the Portuguese
Sergios Joke:
- There once was a Portuguese scientist doing some experiments on spiders. The scientist began and pulled out one leg from a spider and then demanded the spider to "anda!" or walk, and the spider walked. The scientst continued and pulled out a second leg from the spider then demanded it to "anda!" and the spider continued to walk. The man repeated this process until the spider had but 1 leg left. The Portuguese scientist continued and pulled out the spiders last leg then demanded the spider to "anda!" but the spider did not move.
-After repeating a series of theses experiments the Portuguese scientist concluded that leg-less spiders cannot hear.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)