26-29 January - PARATÍ

Yesterday completed 2 weeks here in Brazil. So much has been going on that I haven’t had much time to write (which means one of the following: (a) I was literally busy with activities and had no time, (b) was too tired to write or (c) just didn’t feel like it. To re cap, we have been around so many places! (good summary, huh?) (including, a couple museums, a park, a soccer game, and a visit to a samba school (escola de samba) where they rehearse for the Carnaval parade at the end of February. Yesterday we just got back from a four day field trip to Paratí, Rio de Janeiro. There we learned about the maintenance of a colonial city and the preservation of the ecosystem (and of course enjoyed the beach, sun, and water).

I’ve spent lots of time with Jefferson at the beginning – he gave me a tour of USP, which was amazing. The campus is a city in and of itself (probably bigger than UMCP) and it took 40 minutes just to drive around the outskirts of the campus by bus. He also accompanied me during my first bikini purchase (poor guy). Anyone who knows me, knows this purchase (and the usage of such purchase) was a big deal in "Leah world", hehe. But here no one seems to be body conscious. Although they’re a lot more health conscious, I’d say. Yes, there are beautiful people, who are insanely in-shape – but not looking like a model in no way stops anyone but grandmothers (and only grandmothers) from letting it all hang out at the beach (that includes really old men with huge beer guts in Speedo’s, and pregnant women in bikinis).

It’s about a six hour trip to RJ (we’re about an hour away from the famous city of the tall mountain with a huge statue of Christ on top). After about 3.5 hours, we arrived in Ubatuba, a beach city, to have lunch.

descending into Ubatuba on the way to Parati

yes, it's real

It was beautiful, but there were really strong currents that day. The life guards had to rescue some CIEE students, and we heard later in the news that a few locals actually died. Scary. We arrived to a our pousada (kind of like a laid back hotel made of mini houses, instead of rooms stacked on top of each other). We got a tour of the town, which you can walk in its entirety probably in less than an hour, and then had dinner at a really nice place called Margherita Café – pizza rodízio J . Then got caught in a torrential rain storm (I’m getting used to this).

Next day, half the group spent the day on a boat visiting 3 different islands off the coast. About 5 hours at sea. At each stop, we jumped off the boat to dip into the water, and at our last stop, lunch was served. In the middle of our trip, it started raining hard.

At the end, we headed back to the Pousada, showered, went out to dinner at the Margherita Café and then went to the teatro de bonecas – a puppet show for adults. Quite interesting! This is how it works: they had two people dressed all in black, black masks, black gloves, etc. Then music plays in the background, the spot light turns to the dolls, and they come to life.

Saturday we went to Picinguaba to learn about the ecological environmental project in SP. We went hiking on a long trail, dipped into "water falls" (that were absurdly small), visited a casa de farinha, had a boat tour through mangues, and saw interesting looking crabs and plants, etc. It was fun. We got lucky because the group that went the day before got caught in the torrential rains (torrential: new word of the…year) and had to hike and boat through it all. They were not happy campers when they returned in the evening.

We headed back to SP Sunday afternoon and got back around 10PM. We later learned that this very weekend, a really strong rain storm hit Rio that left streets flooded, houses in ruins, people dead and injured, and families destroyed. So that’s why it rained everyday we were there.

21 January - solarium, host family, and salsa!

today I tested out my new bikini on the solarium on top of the apartment. But being as my stomach has never been exposed to tropical sun before (or any sun, for that matter), I got a nice (not so nice) burn.

My host mom’s other 2 daughters came with their husbands for lunch. The meal was amazing, needless to say (my mom’s a great cook), and we spent the afternoon playing with her granddaughter.

And the most important thing of all: I FINALLY got my salsa fix tonight. The student monitors (Brazilian students who plan cultural activities for us to go out at night) finally planned a salsa night. Usually they take everyone to bars (to which I had no interest in going), but this time we went to Pacha Ynti, which happens to be owned by chilenos. They had a live salsa band that played with impressive accuracy modern (in my day) classics like "Tu carinito", "llorarás", "la vida es un carnaval", "mi tierra", and "juliana". It was great!.

19 January - shopping with Jefferson

today Jefferson took me shopping (since I don’t know where anything is, and need cheap stuff). My mission: buy my first bikini and get tickets to go to Bahia for Carnaval. About the bikini shopping, let’s just say it was frustrating. Seriously, the bikinis here are tiny! Tankinis just don’t exist. The only people that wear one piece bathing suits are grandmothers and guys (who just have their speedos/boyshorts…yes, they wear boyshorts). I had resolved to buy a bikini because my host mom almost had a heart attack when I showed her my bathing suit. She told me I’d stand out more in a Tankini than in a bikini, even if all the rolls on my body were hangin out. Naiana and Gilmara (other FIPSE-CAPSE students that studied a semester at Vanderbilt), gave me the same reaction. So I’m in the fitting room (as Jefferson waits outside for a half hour, as I try on 6 bikinis), and I finally narrow it down to a couple and then try them on back and forth and stare in the mirror for a good 5 minutes each time, trying to convince myself to buy one. I left the dressing room with my head down, but with a bikini in hand. I didn’t think finding a bathing suit could be so dramatic, hehe. On the up side, I found a relatively cheap (considering it’s carnaval) ticket to Bahia. I’ll be staying there for a week at Gilmara’s during the week we have no classes.

18 January - torrential rain

we had our first torrential rain. I was on the way home, which included walking to the bus stop, and then waiting for half an hour for the bus to get there. I’ve decided that buses here don’t really have a schedule…you just kinda gotta assume that they’ll pass by at least once an hour, twice if you’re lucky.

17 January - ILCP classes begin

for the first day of ILCP classes, Ben and I were guided by our host moms (who didn’t know how to get to school by bus. We showed up an hour late, but so did everyone else, so it was okay). I was placed in group A, which means we have culture class first for 2.5 hours and then Portuguese class for another 2.5 hours. Note to self: don’t space out in class while in a foreign country – its much harder to pick up where the prof. left off.

In the afternoon we watched a film by Disney that dealt with stereotypes of Brazil, and Prof. Lourival, our culture professor, left us with these inspiring words: "my objective in this course is to confuse you. if you leave the classroom confused and with doubts, perfect. If you leave with certainty, then I’ve failed." Well, it doesn’t take a lot to confuse me, so this should be an interesting few weeks, hehe

16 January - Vila Madalena and USP

Moved into host family home. We live in a nice neighborhood called Vila Madalena. The apartment has a gymnasium (which consists of a room about the size of a single dorm room that has 2 treadmills, 2 bikes that barely work, and an "all-in-one" machine that is probably dangerous to use). There is another CIEE student, Ben Klein, living upstairs in the same apartment building.



I met up with Jefferson at USP (Universidade de São Paulo) and he gave me a small tour of campus. He introduced me to the FIPSE-CAPSE coordinators who gave me a warm welcome to Brazil.

15 January 2006 - tour of downtown SP

Today the Council took us on a city tour. Jefferson tagged along. Here are some of the things we saw:

the sight of poverty is everywhere

edificio italia

Praça da Republica

Sampa - Caetano Veloso

Alguma coisa acontece no meu coração

que só quando cruzo a Ipiranga e a Avenida São João...

that building with the red symbol on it, that’s the Torre de Banespa, i.e. Banespa Tower. we went to the top!

every newspaper stand, or banca looks like this…

reflection…

here it is folks…the grand city of São Paulo. View from the top of the Banespa Tower

Liberdade, the "Chinatown" of Brasil. Largest Japanese community outside of Tokyo.

14 January 2006

Our official orientations started today at 8:30AM. We grabbed complimentary breakfast beforehand. Fresh fruit, homemade guava, orange, and papaya juices, yogurt, pão de queijo, and lots of other good stuff. Everyone here raves about pão de queijo. It’s bread baked with lots of gooey cheese in the middle. Sounds good, right? But honestly, the first time I tried it, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Or the second time…or the third. But I’m gonna keep trying.

Orientation covered historical and geographical info about SP. Some interesting things I didn’t know before: the state is inclined toward the center of the country, so rivers run in that direction instead of toward the Atlantic. The city of SP is the shape of Scooby Doo, and is the largest city in all of Brazil (with approx. 17.8 million inhabitants), fourth largest in the world (right after Tokyo, Mexico City, and Bombai). When Jefferson, me, and my roommate went walking on Paulista, we saw one of the old houses still standing in the midst of a street fool of modern buildings – built by a coffee farmer during the 19th century. They used to be all along the avenue, but now only a few are left standing.

We had a coffee break and the second part of orientation dealt with the Brazilian Family (culture and generalizations) and being gay/lesbian in Brazil. During our coffee break, I called Jefferson to see if he wanted to get together for lunch since we had about 3 hours for it. So when we let out of the 2nd orientation he was waiting in the hotel lobby. It was so good to see a familiar face! We ate lunch at the eatery a block away and then went to the mall to get me a cell phone.

Jefferson took off for the day when we returned to the hotel, and we had photos taken for documents and a Portuguese placement test (which consisted of a written and oral part, including an interview with Portuguese professors from PUC-SP, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, the university we’ll be attending in 4 weeks.

At 7:30PM, we were introduced to our hosts. I will be staying with Maria Silvia Prado. Super nice! She lives at home with her 24 year old daughter. One of the first things she said to me was "eu falo muito rapido e eu falo muito" ("I speak fast, and I talk a lot) – just a warning, hehe. So I’m sure I’m gonna learn TONS…or just get lost in conversation.

Then me and my hotel roomy crashed in the room and watched movies (all of which had port. Subtitles)

13 January 2006 - first day in Brazil!

Brasil!!!! Meu Deus, por fim tô aqui! Ahh!



It was a long but uneventful plane ride from Baltimore to Atlanta and then onto São Paulo. All together it was about 11 hours of flying. On the flight to Brazil it turned out that I was sitting next to another exchange student through the same program (CIEE, here called "O Council", i.e. Council on International Educational Exchange). After awhile it just started to feel like a long bumpy car ride. The bumpy part wasn’t so hot…and then because of the turbulance the flight attendants refused to serve us breakfast. "Our safety is more important than your hunger. We hope you understand". And I quote. It really wasn’t that serious, but whatever – the food probably wouldntve been that good anyway, hehe.

So we get to the airport in São Paulo (from now on referred to as "SP" or "Sampa") at 10:30 AM (7:30AM EST), walk a million miles through passport and customs and finally meet up with a group of other CIEE students. Everyone’s tired, hungry and wants to shower. We waited at the airport till about 12PM, then piled into a charter bus with our luggage and made our way downtown, arriving at the Caesar Business Hotel around 1PM.

We’re talkin high class here, folks – cable, nice shower, business desk, nice view into the next hotel, and as the name might indicate (or not), they play constant 70s/80s music (from the US) in the elevators and lobby. It’s located on Av. Paulista, one of the bussiest avenues in SP where there are tons of banks, malls, stores, restaurants, museums, and did I mention banks?? It is also probably the most expensive place to shop. By the way, in Brazil they use the regular plugs as in the States – that was somethin I was a little worried about.

My philosophy is to arrive to a new place with as few expectations as possible, this way you avoid shock or disappointment. I can only confirm that SP is a HUGE metropolitan city – it’s bigger than NY. Many cars, many pedestrians. It’s a lot to take in – which is why I really enjoyed the hour bus ride from the airport.

Once we arrived, we were assigned rooms and given 20 minutes to drop off our luggage and meet back in the lobby for lunch. I gotta say, a shower never felt sooo good! Especially being able to step out into 80 degree weather with flip-flops, jeans, and a t-shirt and not have my wet hair turn to icicles.

We walked about a block and got to a Shopping mall. At the end of their eatery (replete with buffet style Brazilian cuisine, pizza, fast food, chinese, etc) there’s a restaurant called Pateo da Luz.

It’s an all you can eat place that offers "rodízio" (where the waiters come around to your table and offer food). You walk in, take a plate, circle around a large table with all sorts of yummy delights, find a seat at any table and then a waiter comes around for drink orders. I asked for Guaraná – a very popular carbonated fruit drink. It kind of tastes like Red Bull and is supposed to have an energetic kick.

For sobremesa (dessert), they served a scoop of chocolate ice cream surrounded by fresh fruits – pineapple, papaya, mango, watermelon, and kiwi.

During our free time, I called Jefferson, one of the Brazilian exchange students that studied at Vanderbilt through FIPSE-CAPSE. We made plans to get together Sunday. He’s gonna help me with official business – i.e. buy a phone, show me the city, etc. It’s really good to know people here because then being on international turf isn’t so intimidating.

After our free time, we had a 2.5 hour orientation to the program. They gave us a cuaderno with a manual, maps (one of which is a 400 pg road guide of all the streets in the city. 400 pages!). We talked about various fieldtrips we’re going to make over the next 4 weeks and throughout the semester. These coming weeks are going to be intense – hence the name: ILCP, Intensive Language and Culture Program. We have class from 8:30AM till 2PM if there’s no activity/lecture scheduled after, but most days we’re there till 5PM. We’ll get Portuguese and Brazilian culture drilled into us – making field trips here and there to enforce what we learn.

Then we reconvened an hour later at the same place we ate lunch. I love this place – Pateo da Luz.

Imagine this: a huge fire oven, four guys constantly making pizzas of all sorts, and then as the pizzas are finished, waiters come and pick them up and then go around to all the tables in the restaurant offering you a piece. That, my friends, is rodízio. It’s CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) Brazilian style. Much better, hehe.

Being here just one day, I´ve come to a huge realization – telecommunication is a luxury. Rates per minute are soooo high locally (don’t even think about international calls) that phones are barely affordable for the middle class. You know how you have your cell phone plan, allotted minutes and free nights and weekends, right? And if you go over minutes, you pay about 45¢ per minute – well, that’s about the "reduced" fair at night, after 10pm, on Sundays, and holidays. REDUCED! During any other time, it’s about 60¢ per min. So cell phones are only good for two things: (1) meeting up with people and (2) incoming calls (which are free!).

I´m still getting used to the fact that I´m here – not just so much that, but the fact that I´m gonna be living here for the next 6 months. Living in a home, taking public transportation, studying at a university, the works.

12 January 2006 - leavin on a jetplane...

homefries

José just dropped me off about an hour and a half ago after I spent the day visiting mom and hanging with Mehrnoush & Paul at a sushi place and Pier 1. I admit, I’m a little sad to say goodbye, but I know the next few months are going to be amazing. I spent the last 4 weeks working at Red Robin, "home of the smiling burger" – saving up money for the trip. Surprisingly enough, I didn´t leave packing for last minute. I have one large suitcase w/all my clothes, one small duffle with toiletries, a small suitcase for miscellaneous stuff (souvenirs, stuff the Brazilians asked me to bring, shoes, etc), and my backpack. So, HAH, to all you guys who thought it was impossible to fit all my clothes into one bag! After going through all the frustrating bureaucratic hooplah (because of which I couldn’t get my visa until a week before the trip) to acquire all the necessary documents (and some) to apply for a student visa, all went smoothly at the Brazilian Embassy in DC (unlike my passport ordeals 2 years ago – Anush knows, hehe).

Anyway, thank you Anush & José for driving me back and forth to Baltimore and D.C. Les agradesco mucho!!