Eu falo um pouco de portugues...

SO!

Less than one week left until I go to Brazil.. starting to get even more nervous! The library finally called me, saying that my requested item was FINALLY ready (after a week!), so.. I raced on over there and... got my package of Brazilian Portuguese conversation CD's! Plopped one into the CD player on the drive back home... and.. WOW. What a difference it makes to actually HEAR the Portuguese pronunciation! There are some things that the alphabet just can't capture, phonetically...  hmm..  Anyways. I think these CD's will help me metaphorically NOT completely fall flat on my face on my first day in Brazil.. so... yay!

I found this interesting website (http://www.portugueselanguage.net/portuguese/slang.asp), though, that apparently has Brazilian slang on it.. let's see how bizarre they are!:

- A difficult problem to solve is an "abacaxi" (pineapple) 
- A handsome man is a "pão" (bread) 
- An attractive woman is an "uva" (grape) 
- Nonsense is "abobrinhas" (zucchini) 
- A loved one is called "doce-de-coco" (coconut sweet) 
- And "torcer o pepino" (twist the cucumber) means to discipline a mischievous child. 
- Something or someone that never fails "é batata" (is a potato) 
- When you face something hard and complicated to solve you stand with a "batata quente na mão" (hot potato in your hands). 
- Unimportant things and people are "café pequeno" (small coffee). 
- A very vain and presumptuous person "acha que é o rei da cocada preta" (thinks he is the king of the dark, sweet coconut). 
- "Enchemos lingüiça" (we fill up sausages) when we have nothing to write or speak about and write/ speak anything else.

Interesting.. very interesting.. WHY are they all FOOD-related?!? I'm already thinking about food ALL the time... how funny that I'm going to a country where apparently that's what THEY'RE thinking about all the time, too! haha...

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The fact that there's just a little less than a week left for me before I go MEANS... I've got to start packing! YES... I know this sounds ridiculously early and whatnot, BUT... coming from a VERY organized mother, I think I've just inherited the need to keep on top of things almost to an OCD level.... but, I digress! 

Weather in Brazil (it'll be "winter," there) should be..  high 70's/low 80's.. HUMID.. probably rainy a lot of the time.. so, I'm thinking Tshirts, rainproof jacket, umbrella...  I'm a little bummed that it probably won't really be beachy weather! Which sucks, since I was looking forward to getting some sun, especially since it's been SO gloomy/cold/drizzly at my home in the U.S.! garr... 

The leader/professor for the summer Brazil program suggested getting some presents for our home-stay people, just a nice gesture. Tshirts/souvenirs with "LA", "USA" and whatnot are just SO stereotypically touristy and are not very reliable because, even with people you know, you never get the RIGHT size! So, how am I supposed to find the perfect size for people I've never met before?

 So, THEN I was thinking stuff like.. cookies from Trader Joe's, chocolate covered candies... OTHER types of cookies that are "American," and whatnot, but... what if they already sell similar things like that in Brazil?! For example, so many brands like CocaCola, Nabisco, Pringles.. and other snack-y stuff have made a global impact, these days, so those types of "American" things may very well be readily available in all Brazilian supermarkets! 

So! (I'm noticing that I use "so" a lot of times, by the way... hmmm...) The plan that I finally settled on was to just go to the Japanese supermarket for some red-bean (anko) paste filled mochi's and ricecrackers, since those are p-r-o-b-a-b-l-y more rare in Brazil... oh WELL!

Anyways. I'm tired. It is officially my last weekend in the US. I'm going to get some sleep so I can make the most of it! :)