Gosto muito!

Hey all!

So! After a LONG day of travelling, I finally reached Salvador de Bahia on Saturday morning! There was a bit of trouble, since my LAX--> Miami flight was cancelled, and I was put on the flight that was about 3 hours later.. but I was able to meet some people from my program, so it was nice to be able to talk to them, realize that we were ALL nervous, and I think that the fact that OTHER people were in the same situation made me feel better, and in fact, more excited about the program!
Our flight, however.. got in 10 minutes after our NEXT flight to Salvador was BOARDING! So, we just grabbed our carryons, and RAN to the other gate... to find out that our plane`s departure was going to be delayed because we need to refuel?? so, the pilot told us 15 minutes... which turned into another 15... which turned into another... and then FINaLLY after TWO hours, we left for Salvador!
The flight itself was very nice. I sat near some people in the program (alright, the plane was already small, haha!), but I sat next to this 60-ish guy who was a PROUD Bahian, and was just VERY nice in general. I found out that his parents immigrated to Brazil from Poland, he lost his foot when riding a train, once (a car hit the train??), he moved to Cleveland, Ohio (how random?!) when he was 19 to just get work, married his wife (from Guatemala) after meeting her at a church in Cleveland.. started a machinery/metals business that now makes wheelchairs.. and his children now live in Florida, where he lives, too! So, he was going to Salvador just for a week or so, to visit old friends, but most importantly, for Sao Joao, a VERY important festival that is going on right now! (more about this festival to come, later!)

Anyways.. got to Salvador, got some reais (about 1.95 reais to 1 u.s. dollar) took a taxi-van to the hotel... and it was ONLY 11AM! So... us students, being ambitious, decided to take some adventures..

A group of us wanted to go shopping, so we took this free van (serves hotels in the area) to a REALLY RITZY shopping center, `Salvador Shopping`, to the food court to eat lunch... I had my FIRST meat in 6 months (grilled salmon on salad.. YUMM! I wasn`t feeling too beefy, yet.. haha).. walked around the shopping center.. got some chocolate at the `bomberia`... que bom!

So, some crazy stuff we observed, was...
* Brazilian police are SERIOUS. like.. all decked out, have guns on their belts. camoflage uniforms. helmets. yeah. in the MALL, too! We actually wanted to leave the shopping center to wait outside for the bus to pick us up, but the guards were at the door, told us to WAIT until the bus actually came, and then called us and watched us go to the bus.. I guess it`s better security, but.. still!! we couldn`t exit without permission, almost! ahah..
* Toilets here, are kind of like what I experienced in Shanghai. They`re still Western-style, but you have to throw your toilet paper in a trashbin next to the toilet. yeah.. it get`s smelly, but, they change them often, so.. tis okay.
* Women here, even a little elderly, dress NICE and proud! they just, seem so well kept and youthful!
*YES.. bikinis are tiny. i actually bought one, yesterday, and... hmm.. i`m not quite so sure when i`ll actually wear it. maybe.. only the birds in my backyard will be witness, haah!
* peanut butter is rare, here?

Anyways. that`s not even half of the day.

AFterwards, we returned to the hotel.. rested..

I went to dinner with a few people, going to a local pizzeria. So, I tried some capirinha (lime and.. some alcohol??), someone had Skol (a brazilian beer that`s EVERYWHERE), and the restaurant owner was really nice, and gave us samples of.. jenibabu (sp?) juice (apparently, a fruit in Brazil that`s naturally alcoholic??), tamarind juice + alcohol, limea, and cachaca. I liked the jenibabu the most, and.. the cachaca was KILLER.. it was SOO STRONG! i took just a sip, but, WHOA! even just a sniff of that would knock me out, haah!

afterwards. we took a taxi to one of the areas of Salvador called Pelourinho, which is known to be THE historical area of Salvador, with churches and whatnot. Anyway. For the past week, in celebration (already!) of Sao Joao, they`ve apparently been just partying away in Pelourinho! SO! we arrive at this part of the city, and.. there`s SO many food stands (meat skewers.. various fried things, desserts), TONS of people selling Skol.. and they also had a stage set up with musicians playing! It was kind of funny arriving there, and listening to the music.. then realizing that it was mainly American music, but the lyrics were Portuganized!! Like, we were dancing to jason mraz`s ``i`m yours`, but.. in Portuguese! it was very fun. Then, they started playing some traditional.. or, i think folksy Brazilian music (a thing about Sao Joao, is it`s a harvest-like festival, so.. they apparently eat a LOT of corn foods.. and dress/listen to country/folksy stuff!), so these locals started dancing with us, holding hands in a circle, going left.. right.. into the circle.. then dancing as couples with one hand around the waste and one hand in the other person`s hand.. almost like a shuffle! it was SOO fun! kinda strange, though.. dancing with a stranger.. and getting hugged by strangers, aftewards, haah! it was an experience!
after all that, there was a famous singer (Danielle.. Mercury? someone PLEASE correct me!), who was dressed in REALLY colorful clothing, her background dancers were crazy, too!! But, i guess she`s REALLY famous, since TON`s of people started coming.. until it was just TOO many people! The police were there.. just standing around.. looking all stern.. ANyway! it was just, SO many people, that myfriends and i wanted to leave, but it was SOO crowded that it took us about 20 minutes or so just to PUSH through people to a street clearing.. then grab a taxi to the hotel (10reais for 4 of us, what a deal!).. got there at 11:30 pm!
first thing i did when i got back?
SHOWER. SLEEP. PEACE.

first day in Salvador. complete.

i realize I`ve written a lot.. but there`S still so much more! that was only the FIRST day, and today is my THIRD day in Brazil.. so i will have to write later, or just talk to you guys in person about my second day... and more days to come in salvador!

much love to all. i miss you. but, letting you know that tudo è bom, gosto muito de salvador.

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...

------

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! :)

Ser, Estar, Ficar...

So... where will I be in Brazil?

For starters, I'll be in Salvador, which.. is the capital of Bahia, one of Brazil's Northeastern states. It was the first colonial capital of Brazil, has the 3rd highest population in Brazil (after Sao Paolo and Rio), and is most known for having a BIG African influence. Apparently, Salvador's popular with European tourist, has beautiful beaches, good seafood... yeps! 

Like any city, Salvador seems to have different neighborhoods. According to Wikipedia: 

Salvador is divided into a number of distinct neighborhoods, with the most well known districts being Pelourinho, the Historic Centre, Comércio, and Downtown, all located in West Zone.

Barra, with its Farol da Barra, beaches and which is where one of the Carnival circuits begins, Barra is home of the Portuguese Hospital and Spanish Hospital, the neighborhood is located in South Zone.Vitória, a neighborhood with many high rise buildings, is located in South Zone.

Campo Grande, with its Dois de Julho Square and the monument to Bahia's independence, is also located in South Zone, as is Graça, an important residential area.

Ondina, with Salvador's Zoobotanical Garden and the site where the Barra-Ondina Carnival circuit ends, the neighborhood is home of the Spanish Club, is also a neighborhood in the South Zone.

Itaigara, Pituba, Horto Florestal, Caminho das Árvores, Loteamento Aquárius, Brotas, Stiep, Costa Azul, Armação, Jaguaribe and Stella Maris are the wealthiest neighborhoods in the East Zone. Rio Vermelho, a neighborhood with a rich architectural history and numerous restaurants and bars, is located in the South Zone. Itapoã, known throughout Brazil as the home of Vinicius de Moraes and for being the setting of the song "Tarde em Itapoã", is located in East Zone.

The Northwest area of the city in along the Bay of All Saints, also known as Cidade Baixa ("Lower city"), contains the impoverished suburban neighborhoods of Periperi, Paripe, Lobato, Liberdade, Nova Esperança, and Calçada. The neighborhood of Liberdade (Liberty) has the largest proportion of Afro-Brazilians of Salvador and Brazil.^[29]

Eu, tu, ele, ela, você, nós, eles, elas, vocês

Although I have already looked up very BASIC Portuguese things such as counting and conjugating regular verbs in the present tense, I still have a TON of work to do in terms of learning the language of a country that I'm going to be immersed in.. in approximately 2 weeks.

So, this morning, I went to the Central Library and picked up 3 books: a Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook (handy!), Portuguese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar, and 501 (ohh... YES. THE language book that almost everyone owns when they're learning a language) Portuguese Verbs.

So far, the 501 Portuguese Verbs book has been a little intimidating, so... I haven't really looked at that one, yet. But, the Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook seems pretty promising. For example, I've learned:

Desculpe - Sorry/pardon/excuse me
Poderia falar mais desvagar? - Could you speak a little more slowly?
Como é que se chama em português? - What's that called in Portuguese?
Meu nome é - My name is..
Onde fica...? - Where is..?

And, of course, "obrigada, bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite.."

What's been most difficult, so far, is knowing how to pronounce things. For example, the "d's" seem to turn into "j" sounds, sometimes. Also, sometimes words that end in "te" like "noite" sound like "noy-eech."

The other thing that's been difficult is differentiating Portuguese vs. Spanish. There are so many similarities between the languages, yet some subtle changes.. so it's going to be tough knowing when to catch myself.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
So, besides getting Portuguese language assistance, another way that I was productive today was... picking up my Brazilian Travel Visa from the Consulate!! woot woot!

Although I ended up having kind of an amusing experience when I got to the consulate, involving:
Me: (Enter the Room, go to the ticket dispenser for a number)
Security Guard: What are you here for?
Me: Oh! J-just picking up my visa!
Security Guard: What? You're not here to pick ME up?!

Oh... what an amazing job that must be, for the security guard to joke around like that...

ANYWAY. Things went smoothly. Just waited about 5 minutes for the 3 people in front of me to get their visas, went to the window.. handed the guy my application receipt, got my passport with the visa inside within a minute... and.. that was it! :D

Oi! Tudo bem?

Hi! Welcome to my blog! I'll be your guide for the evening.. haha.. and, since this is the first post, I guess I'll give a little intro...

I've always loved to travel. When I was younger, and even now, while I had the goal of becoming a pediatrician or something health-related, I secretly always had a dream of becoming a flight attendant. They just seemed to have it all, you know? The cute uniforms, perfect makeup, ability to speak different languages, some sort of respect/dignity, and above all, you just knew that they had seen the world.

I'm sure, though, that being a flight attendant is a lot of work and, like any job, has it's ups AND downs. Besides, I love the sciences and hope to have a profession in that realm. So, I'll scratch off flight attendant for now + put it on the shelf, pursue a science career... and maybe be one of those elderly ladies who comes out of retirement to suddenly become a flight attendant?

Anyway, I digress. Point is, no matter what profession I pursue, I want to travel.

However, I can't be certain that I'll be able to find a job that'll allow me to travel - - Which is why I decided that I wanted to study abroad sometime during my college years.

I started looking at potential study-abroad locations already during my first semester in college, and thought that Germany would be a good choice, since Germany is pretty well known for their good research in science, particularly pharmaceuticals (which is what I was interested in). So. I signed up for a German class for my second semester in college.
Let's just keep this short and say that this ended up being a little traumatic for me. Eagerly, I went to the first class and was:
1. Surrounded by upperclassmen and graduate students (INTIMIDATING!)
2. Surrounded by people who already knew some German (It was a BEGINNER'S German class, though!! DOUBLE the intimidation!)
3. I know it's a good teaching technique, but the teacher was speaking in German the ENTIRE time (Even on the FIRST DAY!)
4. Hearing German in person... it sounded SO foreign to me, not too pretty, either, so it just sort of turned me off.
Needless to say, I was SCARED. Besides, the class interfered with my OChem lab, so... let's just say that I dropped German for the practical purpose of fulfilling credit for my major.

After this, though, I just decided that I wasn't interested in Europe. Along with my childhood dreams of becoming a pediatrician, I also had this goal of someday working with Doctors Without Borders, or some other charity organization that goes abroad to help citizens of other countries that are REALLY in need. The areas of the world that I was interested in were SouthEast Asia, Africa, and Brazil. So, I started looking up programs that went to these locales.

The only program in Africa through my school was in Ghana, and my mom wasn't EVER going to let me go there.
I wanted to go to Thailand (I must admit, mainly because of the temples, elephants, and FOOD), but the protests that have been recently occurring in Thailand didn't really appeal to me or neither of my parents.
So, I decided on Brazil.
And... seeing that it's very difficult for science majors to receive credit while studying abroad during the normal semester, I decided to study abroad during the summer.

Brazil has been on my mind for a while... And I know that I'm going to sound naive, mainly since I've never been there and haven't done that much research AT ALL on it, but... here are some of my main reasons WHY I want to go to Brazil:
1. I've never been to South America
2. Portuguese is such a beautiful language
3. Many Japanese people immigrated to Brazil, so I feel that I'd have SOME sort of clutch if I felt lost (identity-wise) in Brazil
4. Many OTHER people have immigrated to Brazil, and I'd love to see what kind of mixed culture has been "brewing" in Brazil / Being "mixed," myself, I'd like to see what kind of culture dynamic is in Brazil
5. The weather and beaches (Hey, SOcal girl, here. What you gonna do?)
6. I want a change/ new experience.

My experience begins when I fly from LAX to Brazil on June 19th, then come back on August 2.

I'm super excited.