The first weeks (In retrospect)

Looking back, I feel kind of silly.
The first few weeks my excitement quickly turned into nervousness. I was thinking 'shit what have I done? I can't speak Portuguese, I don't belong here'. Honestly, I didn't even like leaving my house, because that meant I might actually have to (attempt to) talk to people!

And the people that reached out to me and drew me out of my house, was surprisingly enough, children.
They learned that I liked animals, so they tried to round up anything they could to show me.
First with the neighborhood dog:

Or a kitten:

One day a horse:

 One day they even came to ask me to go see some "cabritos". I had no idea what the fuck a cabrito was, but with some gestures and use of alternate words, I knew at least it was some type of farm animal. So I followed them on a little hike.

well it turns out cabrito means baby goat....
Soon enough, I was giving them (the kids, not the goats) candy, baking them cupcakes, and letting them watch cartoons or movies in my house. Which soon turned into....how do I get these kids to leave my house?

P.S. I added a link to a song to my last post

the time went all too quickly

So I've returned to the U.S.
It's bittersweet.
There are so many things I didn't get to do in Brazil that I wanted to. I know I will be back one day, but I doubt it will be any time soon.
What I will most of all of course is the people, a few in particular. Unfortunately for me, I didn't start making closer friends until it was almost time to leave, but better late than never I guess.

I'll miss my students, always eager to learn and so happy just to have conversations in english. They motivated me to try harder and practice my Portuguese, caused me to work hard to research the sometimes incomprehensible english grammar rules, and made me feel appreciated... and cool :)

I'll miss making my hot cup of coffee in the morning, the old fashioned way- boiling the water and pouring it through the filter yourself and of course drinking brazilian coffee every morning... and mid-morning, and after lunch, and mid-afternoon, and evening and anytime you go to someone's house or a business, even the gas station...

I'll miss their enthusiasm for soccer. TV's in all the bars and all the restaurants because you can never miss a game. And how every time there is a game, everyone's eyes are glued to the screen, including the waiter while pouring your drink, and people passing by, who automatically stop and stare hypnotized at the screen, and usually stay standing there, so by the end of the game there is sometimes a small crowd of 10-25 people standing on the sidewalk watching the game, apparently not too worried about being on time to wherever it is they were headed.

I'll miss my nightly novela. So overly dramatic and unbelievable, but yet addicting, and somehow cast with all of the most beautiful people on earth. and "dancing" to the theme song, especially shaking my hips at the cuica sections.  ------------> the song

I'll miss not only the fruit, but also how much everyone there loves the fruit (if that makes any sense...) An example- On my way to Rio we were driving on the highway but had to stop for some construction. While stopped, I noticed a lot of people get out of there cars and walk over to the side of the road looking at the trees. I realized it was because the trees were Japanese plum trees. Everyone was getting out to look for fruit! Only in Brazil would half the people leave their cars and scour the trees for fruit to eat.

I'll miss how everyone has a nickname, or several. I loved hearing conversations talking about people referred to as "Macarrao" (pasta) or "jilo" (the vegetable). Jose becomes "zeze", Edmar becomes "dede", Robson becomes "robinho" and I became Daninha (little Dana)

....which reminds me, I'm going to miss how much Brazilians use diminutives. In portuguese, you add inho/inha or zinho/zinha to mean little or express endearment or even insignificance. "Would you like a cafezinho (small coffee)?" They exist in other languages, but I think no one in the world uses diminutives more than Brazilians. The result, in my opinion, is that everyone ends up sounding so cute all the time. In english it would just sound dumb, but it portuguese it works. They use diminutives on nouns, adjectives, even adverbs.
Tchauzinho! (little bye?)
Obrigadinho (little thanks?)

Anyways, since I didn't too good a job keeping up with my blog I've decided to write some more entries after the fact (I keep wanting to say posthumously but that's not correct). When I put up my pictures I'll write entries to go along with them.... if there is even anyone left still reading!

So I suck as a travel blogger....

Almost two months since I last wrote.... sorry. I guess my blog is kind of a failure, unlike Jeffrey Wang's!
I either don't have anything to write about, or don't have the time to write. And now I only have 5 weeks left in Brazil. I've developed my routine here, work, gym, dinner, novela (Insensato coração!... its basically a soap opera)
My Portuguese has definitely improved, although it's still not great. I even started saying those words you say automatically, without thinking (like "excuse me", "thank you" or "sorry") in Portuguese! But then I went home for a week and was speaking Portuguese there, and came back and started speaking English here, so now I'm all confused again.
The time here has gone really quickly. It was strange to go back to the U.S. just for 10 days and then back here again, and I'll admit that it felt nice to be back home, of course to see my family and friends and dog, but also to be able to speak and everyone understand me- no miscommunications! But it also made me realize the things that I will miss about Brazil when I go home for good.

-The FRUIT! I like the food in general, but the fruit is a whole 'nother thing. I don't know if its 100% true, but I read somewhere that Brazil is the country with the most fruit in the world. The fruit here is delicious, and real.... by real I mean its not always pretty its bruised and browned- not the freak fruit we have in the U.S. (giant, unblemished, shiny) but its tasty. And although some things you can't find here (blueberries, raspberries) that is more than made up for by fruits from the Amazon or other areas of Brazil, most of which don't have names in English because they only exist here: Açai, acerola, araça, Caju (the fruit from the cashew plant), graviola, jabuticaba, jaca, pitanga, conde....
And of course more common fruits: passion fruit, strawberries, oranges, tangerines, mangos, papayas, coconuts, pineapple, guava, limes, guaraná, starfruit, cocoa fruit, figs.....
A lot of these fruits are not native but its so easy to grow things here, most of them might as well be by now. And if you go out to a farm or in the country, you can just walk around and pick half off these off the trees and eat them fresh.
On any given day I'll eat a fresh papaya, a bowl of açai "sorbet" with granola and bananas, make my own passion fruit juice, or try a fruit I've never had before (like a which looks like a tomato but tastes like a mix of a plum and a peach).
Also almost every corner has a juice bar, where you can choose from at least 30 different types of fruits for juice, a smoothie, or juice w/milk or creme- soooo delicious! Just don't look at how much sugar they add!

Conde fruit!

-Alot of what I like about Brazil has to do with the people, of course all of this is generalizations made from my experience with Brazilians here. First of all I respect that they are family oriented. People are always so shocked to hear I came to Brazil without my family- how could I leave my family?! And to see the way Brazilians act over a baby! "ohhh que linda! que bonita!!" They love children! Often when I meet someone if they have a baby they immediately ask "Oh come inside! You want to see my baby, right?!" or "Oh you have to come over to my house and play with my baby!" and generally I would like to say no actually I don't really care about your baby, but to avoid seeming socially retarded I act polite and feign interest. And though yes I do think most of them are cute, I think my reaction must be disappointing as I usually smile at them for a minute and then walk away (maybe I am socially retarded??)- I have never been one to make baby noises. I think Brazilians spend a lot more time with their children than most Americans, and generally bring their children along with them more-Although I don't always agree with it (Why would you bring your 5 year old to the gym!? don't you know its dangerous?!). And maybe I have been affected by this pro-child attitude, since it seems my only friends here are children (a 10 year old invited me to his birthday party!) or maybe its just because they are the only ones not intimidated by me :) But anyways I like that Brazilians like to spend time with their families, they live close to their relatives and they keep in touch.

-I also think Brazilians really know how to enjoy the little things in life. I think in the U.S. this is sometimes lost, people are too busy, too concerned with money and material things. Here people seem so happy, happy to go to a their parents' or a friend's house and sip coffee and talk, happy to play soccer in the street, happy to sit at a bar with a beer and watch a soccer game. They know how to relax, take things slow. Sometimes I get impatient here, I'm used to doing things immediately, getting straight to business, often in a hurry- but here if you have some business to discuss you'll probably be there an hour or two just talking and drinking coffee (everything in Brazil involves coffee)

-Self-confidence! I don't know if Brazilians are just naturally more self-confident or good at acting like it. But I am amazed sometimes at how confident people can be here. I've seen 60+ year old women wear thong bikinis or a spandex jaguar-print jumpsuit and think they look damn good in it too, people here know how to strut, doesn't matter if you have wrinkles or cellulite, love handles- they show it off and are proud of their bodies! Men have confidence too, you hear cat-calls here like nowhere else. Everyday I hear "o gatinha" "eh gostosa" "linda!".... and it starts at a young age. A few weeks ago I was walking when a 5-year old yelled at me "O GOSTOSA!" (literally means delicious, but you get the meaning here) with the self-assuredness of a 25 year old. Afterwards he was chastised by another 5 year old (a buddy of mine) who said basically "Hey, that's my aunt! You don't call her gostosa! Call her Daney!"

the tiny swimsuits do exist!

-They think I'm cool ;) Mostly having to do with the fact that I'm in a small city, I'm kind of exotic here (pale white girl with brown hair and green eyes- exotic?). Like I mentioned before they don't get many foreigners here and I do look different from most people here, but seeing as how I generally feel like a troll here walking amongst the living goddesses that are Brazilian women, I didn't expect this. But I have to say, having your class of 12 year old girls interrupt you to ask "teacher how do you say 'you have beautiful eyes' in English?" or "teacher how do you say 'your hair is pretty'?" and then proceed to tell me these things in English is not a bad work environment. In the U.S. people would tell me "you don't wear enough makeup" but here its "wow you have such a NATURAL beauty".... Mostly I get embarrassed or find it amusing, but I also am enjoying it while it lasts because I know when I go back to the U.S. I won't be automatically cool because I have a Macbook, ipod, and a kindle.



Well there is definitely a lot more that I like about Brazil, but I'll have to save that for a later entry.

work is work and that's why we call it work

Sorry for the lapse in blogs. I have been busy.

An english teacher left, so now I have a full schedule. I really don't mind working 30-40 hours a week, because I like to be busy, but I should be getting paid more!
In this aspect I miss the U.S., you can work hard there and have the money to show it.
In Brazil for a lot of jobs you work your ass off and it gets you nowhere.
For instance, the money I will make here in two months is LESS THAN HALF what I would make working this much at home, and at home if I worked full time I could get benefits, vacation-time, etc.
I think I will ask for a small raise for next month since I am working so much more than originally agreed upon......

Anyways, I have signed up at a gym here. It's nice because its cheap and I automatically get a personal trainer assigned to me, which I would have to pay a good deal for in the U.S. So I have been working out harder than ever before, if all goes well I should return with a smokin' hot bod right?
They also did an entire physical evaluation, with height and weight measurements, percent body fat, everything and then told me a weight loss goal and designed a workout plan in order to achieve this goal.
Well they told me to lose 9 kilos (i.e. almost 20 pounds!!!) which is definite bullshit. No way I want to lose 20 pounds-I'd be a skeleton, but I think they just tell you the lowest healthy weight for someone your age, height, and sex. And telling you that you need to lose 20 pounds makes you feel fat and therefore want to continue your membership at the gym.
Brazilian women dress alot different to work out, crazy colorful spandex bodysuits with cutouts!

Examples! (note that I did not take these pictures- I'm not that creepy!)

stranger in a strange land

Like I said before, I am in a pretty small city that doesn't get many foreigners. This has given me an interesting minor celebrity status. It also gives me an interesting insight into what some Brazilians think about Americans, and general stereotypes of the U.S.

So I don't look like an average Brazilian- the combination of being pale, having green eyes, wearing different (more conservative?) clothes, it makes me stick out pretty well without even having to open my mouth. Everywhere I go in this city, people stare at me. Well, not exactly stare, they try to be more discreet about it, frequent long glances, turning around and staring once I walk past them.....
In India, where staring is generally socially acceptable, it was much more noticeable, well that and people blatantly photographed and videotaped you, even running up and posing, then running away again. Compared to that I really don't mind people here being curious about me. I just get uncomfortable, people always looking at me.

Most people are just super friendly and say really nice things, like "its so cool to meet an American" (surprising to me, you actually like americans?), and "say more things in english, its so cute when you talk" but here are some of the more amusing assumptions/comments/questions I've encountered so far:

-"Wow, you aren't fat!" (I expected this one I guess)
-"Oh, I thought you would have big boobs!" (sorry to disappoint)
-"Oh my god, you're so pale.... branquela, branquinha, leite" (literal translation: whitey and milk)
-Everyone assumes I'm super rich, especially if they see my macbook or ipod because as expensive as they are in the U.S. they are ridiculously impossibly expensive here
-"Did you get butt implants?" (I realize that silicone butt implants are more common in Brazil, but really?!)
-Then there was a little girl at the pool who saw me in my swimming suit and asked, "Do all Americans' ribs look like that?".... no but, thanks for making me feel more self-conscience about it.

but hey, no one here has assumed I'm stupid/ignorant which is the other general American stereotype. In fact, most people seem happy that I seem to know things about their country and downright grateful that I have even attempted to learn their language.
Also most people I talk to also tell me "you are so courageous!" for coming here hardly knowing anyone, leaving my family (this is a much bigger deal to brazilians than most), not really speaking the language, not having a job lined up, etc.  I certainly don't feel courageous. The first couple weeks here I was scared! Well, maybe that's the point, you don't ever really 'feel' brave. You are courageous when something is scary, but you do it anyways. But anyways, I consider coming to Brazil as exciting but not as that much of an adventure (you know not dangerous or anything), but I appreciate people here thinking I have guts :)

:(

Bolinha in my kitchen

A friend once said that I take in stray animals and international students whenever they are in need (or something like that!) and I guess here in Brazil the first part is proving to still be true, and the second part, well I guess now I am the international student in need, haha.
Anyways, my first day here I started befriending a neighbor's dog, Bolinha. She has owners, but is mostly a street dog. A lot of people here don't like to have pets in the house, especially bigger dogs. So I started feeding bolinha (she looked a little too skinny), training her simple tricks (really impressed the neighborhood kids), letting her sleep inside (she had a favorite spot on the bathroom rug, which unfortunately led to a tick infestation in my bathroom, which was.... unpleasant).
Since I was one of the few people who was really nice to her, she kind of adopted me. Which I had no problem with since I am missing my dog at home.
Well this morning someone poisoned her, she was vomiting, foaming at the mouth, couldn't stand up. Gave her some medicine, she's ok now. I'm just worried if they try again.

coisas

Some random things that have happened since I last wrote:
-went to my first Brazilian soccer game (so loud!)
-saw (and smelled) a dead horse which was actually really upsetting, it was roadkill, I never imagined something so large as roadkill
-had my shower head shoot sparks and light on fire while I was taking a shower (they use electric shower heads here that heat the water right before it comes out), sparks and fire is a lot scarier when you are naked btw
-introduced my coworkers to the American cupcake, they actually were kind of messed up because it was hard to find some ingredients here and too sweet for my taste, but luckily for me Brazilians LOVE sweet things, I think I am their new favorite person
-Was at a bar watching a soccer game when a cachaceiro (a drunk, particularly from cachaça) ran his truck into an electric pole right by us. Explosions, fire, sparks, downed electrical wires thrashing all over- It felt like I was in an action movie. Took out power for the whole city- and right in the middle of an important soccer game, I swear you could hear the whole city groan. (It ended up being 8-1, would have been such a fun game to watch!)
-Went camping at a nearby lake, you don't know the meaning of barbecue until you barbecue with Brazilians
-Had to give a 14-year-old former drug dealer a ride to the hospital because one of his five bullet wounds was bothering him
-Watched some Brazilian "gauchos" breaking in horses. I think its really funny-they train their horses so they can go to the bar, get drunk, hop on their horse and the horses automatically bring them home. Designated driver!

More later!

quero falar sua lingua

In my life I've known a lot of people whose first language was not English, so I know the common mistakes people make, the grammar that seems to have no sense behind it (prepositions!), the sounds that seem impossible to make, and definitely that look on someone's face when they don't understand what you are saying. I think this helps in teaching English, along with the fact that, as I've mentioned in previous blogs, I am struggling with Portuguese. I can tell my students don't be embarrassed or shy, because I am in the same situation as you. Learning a language is hard (well at least I think so).

I've always found accents both endearing and amusing, and I only hope that brazilians think the same of me when I speak Portuguese. I know they at least sometimes find it amusing. For instance, no doubt the hardest sound for english speakers to make in portuguese is the "ão" sound. It is an impossibly nasal sound, and in class whenever I say a word like macarrão (pasta) everyone giggles or smiles. But by far, my least favorite word in portuguese is PÃO. Pão means bread, but if you fail to produce that nasal ão sound, it sounds instead like pau, which means wood, but is more commonly used as slang for dick. So essentially 90% of the time I say bread it sounds like I am saying wood or dick, which really makes people laugh. Unfortunately, this had led me to avoid using the word as much as possible. I never know at the grocery store when I go to the baker to order if she will simply hand me my bread or will look at me like I just ordered "6 woods, please" or even worse "6 dicks, please". You never know how much you use the word bread until you try to never say it!

Oh well, I get to laugh when brazilians say they want to lay on the beach and it sounds like "I want to lay on the bitch".

Lotta, you aren't the only one who doesn't like v's! :)

Side note: For those of you who were concerned about my work schedule, no worries, the disappeared teacher has returned, so I don't have to do 15 hour days anymore. In fact, I had the afternoon off. And it looks like I'll be paid appropriately too!

If you give a hand, they take the whole arm

So I have a lot of things I want to write about here, but I haven't been able to find the time recently. I have been working a lot, even though this is only my second week of working. Last week I was learning how things worked there, etc. and taught a few classes. This week I have been teaching almost ALL the classes, like 7 am to 10 at night.
Let me first say that I really have enjoyed teaching so far. Everyone I work with is really nice, although unfortunately my Portuguese is still lagging and so there are definitely some communication problems with the girls that work at the front desk. Which is a shame because I really want to talk to them-they are university students and the only people I have really met so far that are my age.
But what I really like about working is the students. I love the students! For some reason I assumed most of my students would be college students, but they are actually everything but. For the most part half of the classes are like 12-14 year olds, and the other half are older adults like 30s and 40s. This is a private language school so everyone here is paying money and taking time specifically because they want to learn English. I really admire their determination to learn English. Obviously some of the younger students are taking classes because their parents are making them, but almost everyone legitimately wants to learn and they work hard. A lot of them have goals, like they want to travel in the U.S. or England, or they want to go to school in Canada. The students are also really curious about me so they really try to speak English so they can ask me things like where I'm from, why did I come here, how long will I stay, do I like it here, etc.
I also want to know about the students, why do they want to learn English, how old they are, how long they've been studying. So its a good exchange, we both get to practice our respective languages.

I was worried about my ability to teach, but the students seem to think I'm doing a good job. I speak Portuguese so badly that everyone assumes I understand very little, but I actually understand almost everything, which means I overhear what everyone says about me (its surprising how much people will talk about you right in front of you if they think you can't understand!) but luckily it has been all good so far. I taught some classes for another teacher here, and I heard the students say afterwards "oh today I really learned English!" "Tell Glaucio (the director of the school) we want her to be our teacher" "A real American, I am learning real English!" It's so cute.

But anyways, the reason I am working so much this week..... well another English teacher kind of "trained" me last week and I taught a few of his classes for him so he could have a break (he had a really full schedule) and I could get some practice. Well this week he just disappeared! I think he called and said he couldn't come in on monday, but after that  nobody has heard from him. And so I just took over all his classes, which is a lot. Its been pretty tiring, but I think he comes back soon. I should tell them I can't work so much, but I don't like to let people down. I'm sure some of you remember when I worked as a waitress and by the end of it I was working so much that I had shifts every minute I wasn't in school, including before my Organic Chemistry final (i.e. I didn't study AT ALL for my O-chem final). So, yeah, this is a reoccurring problem for me. But for now I don't mind. I like to be busy, and I like teaching, I just can't let this become a regular habit.

endless juice possibilities

Brazilian fruit is the best

I'm also confused about my pay. I originally negotiated a contract with a monthly salary, but I was supposed to just be teaching make-up classes and a Music and Conversation class once or twice a week.... now I'm teaching all these classes and I don't know if I'll get paid per class (like the other teachers do) or if I still just get my monthly salary. They'll pay me. I think....
Negotiating my contract was a ridiculous matter itself. The director of the school (who speaks perfect english) was busy so I talked with another guy (I still don't really understand what he does, but he works for the school) who does not speak english. So he went over everything in Portuguese, and I understood pretty much everything except the amount I was going to get paid. I kept thinking shit what is that number he is saying? shit, I don't understand what number he is saying.... and then I kept asking him to repeat it but he would repeat the rest of the sentence except the number, over and over. I tried to say no not that, what is the number, and he got confused and thought I was saying no to the deal, then he thought I was saying how much is the real compared to the dollar and was trying to do conversions. ahhh so confusing. finally he asked "so its a deal?" and I agreed, but had no idea what salary I agreed to. Anyways it turned out ok!
well this is long now, so here are some random pictures.

First Impressions

view of the city

Oi gente
I've had quite a few requests for a blog, so here it is.
Although I would have loved to live and teach in Rio (I love that city), it is just too damn expensive... So now I am in a small city in the state of Minas Gerais (north of Rio de Janeiro). The population is around 85,000 people. It is urban enough and there are two universities here, but according to wikipedia the city is essentially agricultural. "The main crops are fruits, vegetables, and especially coffee. With an area planted with 66 million trees in more than 320 square kilometres, coffee growing provides about 8 thousand direct jobs and 35 thousand indirect".
So like any small, agricultural town you don't get too many foreigners here. I am one of the only  Americans here (maybe the only). This has its advantages and disadvantages (more about this later).
Advantage: I quickly got a job teaching English at a language school here despite the fact that I have no teaching experience and basically can't speak Portuguese.

By the way, my Portuguese sucks. Before coming here I really thought I had a better grasp of it than I do.... My first couple days here everything sounded like gibberish and I could barely remember how to form a sentence besides "my name is" and all that other introductory stuff. A little more than two weeks later I can understand a lot, maybe not 100% but most. The speaking..... hasn't improved quite as quickly. I kind of feel like a mute, I listen and nod and maybe say "sim" or "nao".... but Jolie has reassured me that it is possible for me to speak Portuguese, as she had a similar experience during her first 3 weeks in Nicaragua. So we'll see I guess.

the steep climb to my house

For now I'll just give you some pictures:

My street

Minha Casa

my little kitchen