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)
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