An awesome Rotary weekend in Maragogi, and other life experiences

This past weekend for me was spent attending my Rotary orientation at a beach called Maragogi, about 2 hours from Recife. This was a get together with all of the inbound exchange students from the district, and it was alot of fun! The beach itself is very beautiful, and we did alot of swimming. (This is much better than the beach in Recife, where you can´t go swimming because of sharks.) It was funny though- I was surprised that the water was so salty, I guess I forgot it was the ocean, as this was the first time I have gone to the beach here. Previously I have only been to the beach one time, and that was a long time ago, so I didn´t really think about it, I guess. :) It was really nice, though. It was really fun to meet all of the other exchange students. I believe there were about 30 total, from all over the world. I met alot of really cool people, and even some who live in Recife who I had not known previously. Hopefully we can get together agin soon.

Most of the meetings during the weekend were conducted in english, with some Portuguese/Spanish translation for the few people who didn´t speak english. Most of the people actually didn´t speak very much portuguese, if any. The students from Mexico spoke more portuguese, because they also spoke spanish, which is similar, and several other people also spoke some, but not many. I felt really lucky to have had the opportunity to study before comming here, even if only for a short time. It helped alot. I was able to talk to everyone with a mixture of english and Portuguese, as a few people didn´t speak english, so that was really neat. I only wish that all of the exchange students could get together more often.

When we were first arriving our bus broke down about 1km from the hotel, and we walked the rest of the way there. It wasn´t far though, so it was actually kind of fun. :) Besides going swimming at the beach, we also played soccer (everybody plays soccer without shoes here), had meetings about the rules of Rotary and the exchange trips; hung out with everyone together, played games, and saw a capoeira show. Capoeira is a Brazilian dance which is based on martial arts, and is really really neat. After the show, we were invited to come learn how to dance. Later that same night, a group of Forro dancers came and performed / taught us how to dance forro. This was awesome - I danced alot! Everyone was sad to leave the next day, but it was still a good weekend.

After we got back on sunday I went to a concert at a club with Bruna and Iga. This was fun, but I was very tired from the weekend. On monday I had my portuguese class very early in the morning, It was a miracle that I stayed awake for the entire class. :) After that I came home and slept, then I went to basketball practice that night.

Yesterday I didn´t have class, so I went to a market with Maria Clara, Bruna, Eduarda, and one of Clara´s friends. The market was in the old part of Recife. It was huge with many people. Clara said that the name for this kind of crowd is "vouku-vouku" (i´m probably spelling that wrong but oh well...) it means lots of people milling around. :) It was intense, but fun. There are lots of shops as well as little booths with vendors selling pretty much everything: prepared food, arts and crafts of the area, clothes, shampoo, fabric, discount items, meat, etc. There is one part of the market which has lots of little stalls under a big, permanent canopy -- kind of like a giant building with no walls. This is where they have the butcher shops, fish, vegetables, and arts and crafts. It smells very bad. While we were there, a big chicken got away from one of the stalls and flew up into the rafters. All the people there gathered to watch/cheer/laugh at the people trying to catch the chicken. It was great. :) They did eventually catch the chicken, however, and all the people went back to what they had been doing previously.

More life; and the ever-changing schedule

Actually, we didn´t end up going to the beach, so all the time you were imagining me at the beach, it wasn´t happening-- it´s ok though... :) we´ll go later. We didn´t end up going because my host parents had trouble getting a hold of the lady that comes to clean the appartment before they come (they haven´t been to the appartment in several months so it´s really dirty) by the time they got a hold of the lady, it was too late in the day. apparently you have to go in the morning (who knew?) I am excited about the rotary weekend though... that is sure to happen, too, cause the rotary is really on the ball.

Instead of going to the beach, we just hung out here at the appartment, which was perfectly OK. We went swimming in the appartment pool, watched a movie, and I went to the mall with my sister Duda and a friend. So, it was not in the least bit lacking, just not according to plans. :)

Today I saw a lizard about as long as the palm of my hand, which was near the appartment building, outside. That was my Marty Stalfer moment of the week. Other than that, none to report, because Recife is such a big city there´s not much wildlife to go around. That´s one thing I miss-- nature-- I really like to just walk around outside and see the sky. That´s kind of hard to do here. There was a full moon though, yesterday, which was very beautiful.

Concerning school, which is always a frontier full of new developments, my schedule will be changing yet agin! I seriously believe that organizaing a college schedule here is like herding cats. Today I couldn´t go to my portuguese class, because I went with Cate the Canadian and her host mom and sister to the technical university on a tour. It turns out her host dad is the director of the university, and the university is very good, just different from the UFPE. It has alot of courses in mechanics, engineering, sciences, etc. It also has tourism, which is what Cate and I will do I believe. This course includes many different areas of study (theory of tourism, languages such as english, spanish, and portuguese. history of Brazil, Art History, management, statistics, etc. ) Also, I believe that the class takes some trips around Pernambuco to better know the region.

The only problem with this is that my painting class is also during this time-slot, so I have to choose. I can´t skip either class. Overall, it would seem more enjoyable to take various courses at the UFPE, and make my own schedule, however, I talked to my family about this situation, and they think it would be better for me to go to CEFET(pronounced seh-feh-tee) (the technical university that has the tourism class) for a number of reasons. First- I will have class every day guaranteed- which is better. I will also have class with all the same people, so it will be easier to make friends that if I had a potpourri of classes from the UFPE. Also, this class is an actual program for which I will get some kind of diploma, as opposed to just an assortment of classes. Also, my schedule can be synchronized with Cate´s, which would be nice for both of us. Although I can´t continue with the painting class, I can do other things. I might want to take lithography (available in the mornings) one or two days a week. I also have the option of taking guitar lessons at a place not far from the appartment (maybe- we are going to look into this) I think this will be the better solution in the long run. The only problem is that classes at CEFET don´t start until sept. 15! that´s one month! In the meantime, I think I will take my portuguese class, as well as maybe lithography and guitar lessons... this is all tentative. :)

In addition to this, today was exciting because Iga Pauline- the exchange student from poland who is staying with Marcela and Eduarda (friends in the appartment) arrived! we went to pick her up at the airport and I got to re-live my arrival experience. Also we ate Açai at the airport- it was very good! Iga is very cool- she doesn´t speak any portuguese at all, but she does speak english, so I was helping translate. Marcela does speak english, but she will be leaving on friday as an exchange student to the US: Pensylvania-- and nobody else in the family speaks english. (they deffinately don´t speak polish either). This could be interesting-- I am going to help them as much as I can. Iga is very nice, though, and I´m sure she´ll learn portuguese quickly once she starts school. :)

Lot and lots and lots of news from the Brazilian front

Well, I haven´t written much in the past week, but that´s not because nothing noteworthy has happened. On the contrary-- So many noteworthy things happened that I didn´t have time to write! Don´t worry though... I have been keeping track of the goings on here in Brazil and will now report them to you! here it goes:

The end of last week was rather uneventfull... My family and I hung out at home (when they weren´t working) and watched the olympics. It´s really cool to watch the olympics, even in the U.S., but it is especially neat to watch them here and know that all around the world, so many other people are doing exactly the same thing-- that it is the same here as it is in Springfield, MO, and everywhere else. It´s really neat. :)

Another noteworthy thing that I did with my family was go to church. Clara, Eduarda, and I went to adoration on thursday at a different church (this one is kind of near the Nautico stadium). It was really really nice! I felt like I understood more of what was going on, even though I didn´t understand everything. One thing about going to mass here that is really cool is that the churches are always packed. No matter the size of the church, people are always standing in the back! In the US this only happens on holidays, basically. Also, the music is very good. We also went on saturday night to the weekend service, and at this mass, one of the songs they played was one we have in the U.S. too! For Nanny, who might know it, :) the name of the song is "Lord, You Have Come" or "Pescador de Hombres" (spanish version) It was in portuguese, but it was the same song-- I know because I could kind of tell what the words were, and they meant the same thing! it was so awesome, it made me feel so much better to hear a song that I knew. Also, it was one that I like alot. It is hard to explain, but sometimes, when you are far away from home, the smallest things can really mean alot.

Sunday was father´s day here, so there were various festivities relating to that holiday. At church, they had a special father´s day reception, and then on sunday, our family celebrated by going over to Clara´s sister´s house for dinner with a bunch of her family, after the Nautico game. It was fun to meet everyone (I already knew some of the family, but not all of them...)

This brings me to the Nautico game! Well... I´m sure many of you have already seen the pictures from this game, but if you haven´t, check them out! The game was between Nautico and Santos, a team from Sao Paulo. Because they came all the way from Sao Paulo, there weren´t alot of fans for the opposing team, and the stadium was filled with huge numbers of Nautico fans. Going to the game was a really neat experience-- I had never been to a professional soccer game before, and the atmosphere was very intense. Lots of people, music, cheers that the whole crowd knows, fireworks and people throwing confetti and ballons out the windows of nearby appartment buildings. Actually, one of the balloons landed on the field during the game, but nobody seemed to notice. :) Nautico won 1 to 0, so eveyone was happy after the game. They played the nautico theme song and some samba music over loud speakers as we were exiting the stadium. It was so much fun!

Monday was spent mostly running errands. We took Gustavinho to his futsal (indoor soccer) practice, went to pick up some documents for Eduarda´s exchange, and did various other things. Also, I met another exchange student: Catherine from Canada! Monday night I went to basketball practice.

Tuesday was very exciting because I started school! I now have my painting class every wednesday from 2 to 5:30pm. That´s right-- it lasts 3 1/2 hours! After the class, my brain was completely fried. :) I am looking forward to the next class next week! The class was very enjoyable, but it was also very difficult. No one there really speaks much english, though a couple of the people speak some. Fortunately, the professor is nice and understanding, and the class is small; around 8 people. We spent the first class discussing the plan for the semester and what supplies we will need for the class. We also talked some about technique, and looked at various examples of student work. The first painting we will work on will be of a beach landscape. I believe we are going soon to a beach near Recife to take pictures and do a preliminary sketch. How cool!

On Wednesday, I had my first Portuguese por Estrangeiros (Portuguese for foreigners) class. This went very well. There are alot of interesting people in the class, from many different countries. It´s mostly college age people, but also some older people who are here working. Thre are people of many different nationalities and experiences, including two other Americans, and alot of Germans. One of the Americans is a specialist in tropical medicine, here studying dengue fever, and the other American is a missionary who is here with his family. I think that this class will help me improve my portuguese, which I need to do very badly. I also think it will be alot of fun, so I´m looking forward to it.

Another exciting development of the week: My host sister Eduarda got her U.S. visa!!!!!! She is going as a rotary exchange student to canada, but needs both visas because her district is half in canada and half in the U.S. She had alot of problems getting her visa, but now she has it, so it´s every good news.

Also on wednesday-- Eduarda, Catherine, Catherine´s host sister Rebecca, and I went to see "the mummy" at the movie theatre. This was a fun outing! Then I went to basketball practice.

That night, I gave my American gifts to my host family. It worked out well and was a good opportunity to talk about what everything was, and share some things about my culture with them. It really was alot of fun. :) Everybody really liked the Reeses peanutbutter cups that I brought, and little gustavo and his friend were covered from head to foot in temporary tattoos with pictures of cowboys and indians, that I bought at the cowboy museum in Oklahoma city.

On thursday, not much happened. The only notable event was Eduarda´s english lesson. Her teacher came over to the appartment for the lesson. His name is Alexandre, and he spent some time in the united states previously, but he is Brazilian. He is a very nice guy, and I sat in on the lesson, which was interesting. Also, he learned that I had brought peanutbutter from the U.S., and he really wanted some, because they don´t have it here, so I made him a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich.

Today is friday. basically nothing happened. As of yet, I don´t have a class on thursday or friday, just on the other days of the week, so I had a lot of free time today. I think that I may get more classes later, but I am not sure yet what they will be. The one thing we did do today was go to a going-away-party for one of Eduarda´s friends who is also going as an exchange student to canada. Also, I am continually amazed by what people can carry on bicycles here. I have already seen people carrying multiple jugs of water (the big ones from water coolers). Today I saw someone carrying a rocking chair in one hand while steering the bicycle with the other, riding down a very busy street. Yikes!

Tomorrow I believe we are going to Tamandare beach for the weekend. This will be my first trip to the beach so far, so I am excited! that´s it for now-- I´ll write more later. :)

More Updates from Recife!

Well, the last few days have been fairly uneventfull. Just when you think life is starting to settle into a little bit of a pattern, then a flurry of activity happens. :) Today was one of those flurries, but it was definately a good thing. As an exchange student, it´s nice to have activity, because you don´t have time for saudade (this is the brazilian word for missing someone, or a place, etc. I think it is very appropriate) It is really only when nothing is happening that you have time to feel sad. This is why I am gratefull that my family is very active. There are generally alot of people over, and they are fun.

An overview of the last several days...

On Sunday, my family attended church at this little church which is inside the Parque da Jaqueira (park where we went running before). I understood somewhat more this time because they had programs with the liturgy of the word in them, and because it was a mass for children. I still did not understand the homily at all, but hopefully this will get better as I am here for a longer time, and take language classes. That afternoon, various friends came over to watch a football match, and I went to the grocery store with my host parents and Eduarda,. We bought food for me to make an American lunch for everyone that day. I made salmon, cheesegrits, and salad, and although there were difficulties finding everything, it all turned out well, and they liked it. :) The maid does not work on the weekends, which is why I made it on Sunday... I think I may do some more weeked cooking in the future, since it went over well. :) Then, that night, my family and I and Eduarda´s boyfriend went on a 'tour' of the city. All 7 of us piled into one of the family´s compact cars and drove around the old part of the city for a while to look at various historical things. Then we went to get dinner at an arabian fast food restaurant. This was very fun and the city is beautiful at night. Even so, there is also alot of poverty in the old section of the city, and going out at night, we saw many people sleeping on the sidewalks.

Monday, I continued with my basketball practice. I also went to the mall with my host sisters. This is a popular activity, and people go to hang out, not neccasarily to buy anything. Yesterday was Bruna´s 21st birthday, so she had a party with us and all of her friends last night at a sushi restauraunt.

Today was a whirlwind of activity! This morning, Bruna, Eduarda and I went to the mall to exchange some of the gifts that Bruna got for her birthday yesterday. I also bought some sandals which look very brazilian compared to everything else I have, which does not. :) After this shopping experience, we returned home and ate lunch, then ran over to our meeting with some of my teachers at the UFPE. We talked with multiple people about my schedule for the university, and some of it is now worked out, though not exactly crystal clear. I will start my portuguese classes on monday, I think, and will also take painting, sculpture and lithography (probably) but I do not know when these will start. I will also want to take some other classes, but we will see what happens. It was really cool to see the college and meet some of the professors, though, and I feel somewhat better about it now. This evening, I had another basketball practice, which went well. Before hand, I was talking with some of the other girls on the team about the U.S, my life, etc. Everyone was surprised to know that I have never been to disney land, do not live in New York city, and do not know Michael Jordan or Beyonce personally. :) They also tried to teach me some slang. It was a fun time. When we returned home, there was a Nautico game on tv (they lost again!) and guess what... relatives! Yes... Life here is very different from life in Springfield, but both are good.