All Brazilian.

melting pot

noun

Definition of MELTING POT

1

a: a place where a variety of races, cultures, or individuals assimilate into a cohesive whole b: the population of such a place

2

: a process of blending that often results in invigoration or novelty

— melting–potadjective

First Known Use of MELTING POT: 1887

Sitting at a barbecue the other night over some Brahma and delicious home-cooked food...the colors of the differing cultures began to show themselves a little more after each drink poured. There we were, our own little "UN" as someone told me, each with a story to tell...each with a lesson to learn...each with a language (or two...or three...or four) to speak. Something I had forgotten after my last trip to Brazil until now is how much of a melting pot Brazil really is. With globalization there are many countries these days that we could refer to as melting pots. The significance in this metaphor when talking about Brazil is that , Brazil/Brasil, like other countries, contains people of all diversities, colors, nationalities, and languages........but even in the heat of the "melting pot", each person remains equally unique....equally flavorful...... seperate yet within the mixture....they keep their form...they preserve their flavor.

---------------------------------

Anchorage, Alaska

Me and Jill start the day over coffee and cleaning. Its vacation for us in Brazil which means no work and lots of eating, drinking, and talking. (Lol) I was very fortunate that when I came here to Brazil to start work at an English school, there was a fellow American working with me, but even more fortunate that this fellow American was so full of stories and lessons to teach and tell me about politics...about the world...about family. She's great about sharing perspectives and the story of her life is just really incredible... and a bit crazy. Born in a small town, U.S.A.....she traveled nearly all of  western Europe during college.... completely ALONE.... for a month....then lived in freaking Alaska for 10 years....and now she is living and working in Brazil....being a mother to 2 adorable children (who are now fluent in Portuguese and English)....adjusting to the culture and learnig the language (and I'm REALLY summing things up for you). Talk about someone to learn something from. She was kind enough to invite me to spend the Brazilian holiday (a week off from work) with her and her family, and today is the Barbecue that she planned.

A beach in Lebanon

We started early in the day (noon)...and after an hour or so....the array of friends and acquaintances begin to arrive...each with something special and different to share. I talked early on with a woman who moved here from the Middle East, she tells me as she lights up a Dunhill ciggarette and asks if I want one. I say no thank you and refill my already empty glass with more Brahma (side note: remember to first cheers with someone else before drinking...because Brazilians believe that if you forget to cheer, its 3 years without sex, lol)  then she tells me that she was 17 years of age when she came here with her immediate family because her father had recieved a decent paying job in Brazil. Without ever knowing a single word in Portuguese she managed to pick it up... and speak it perfectly in just a couple of years...and now she studies english as well. I ask her what was most difficult for her in learning the language and she replies, "reading"....because the books in her country you read from right to left....not left to right....and writing works the same. Wow, how strange it must have been for her to have to learn to re-write, in a sense...and re-read as well. Her two year old daughter comes over to sit on her lap as she continues with her life story. Now she works...she goes to college...she's a mother and a wife (to a Brazilian man) -with a very multifarious family of 4. The rest of her relatives still live in the Middle East but she doesn't have the opportunity to visit often, though she still speaks the language. She tells me it is beautiful where she is from and that I should definitely visit if I'm ever given the chance. -My interest is sparked.

"No Me Quitte Pas", interpreted by Celine Dion

Next to arrive is the crazy Frenchman with his guitar and book of music in hand. Long black hair with streaks of grey...a bag of tobacco and rolling paper; he smokes like a chimney and looks about 20 years older than he actually is. He finds his place and sits down at the table to begin his "concert", if you will, in classic songs....one in French, one in German, one in Spanish, one in English. The man speaks 5 languages and has been on the road outside of France since he was 19 years of age. A professional hitch-hiker he managed to go all the way from NYC to Mexico with nothing but a backpack, a 16 yr old girlfriend, and a charismatic personality. A long distance relationship led him to Brazil which resulted in a marriage that didn't last....but with a love for Brazil that did.- Talk about some interesting stories...this man nearly took them all. He opens his books for me and asks if I will sing with him a beatiful love in song in French, "No Me Quitte Pas"...and with my horrible French accent, I manage to sing along.

An image taken during the war in Bosnia during the early 1990's

Rodrigo (Jill's hubbyyyy) stands over by the grill cooking up the best meat you have ever tasted in your life, and filling our bowls at the table on after another. Sausage, steak, pork-chops, chicken wings....he does it all....to perfection. Overqualified in the kitchen, Rodrigo studied how to cook during culinary school and is a Chef of all kinds and types of foods. Born Brazilian but with the culture of a Californian hippie, he's probably one of the funniest guys I've met in a long time,  and equally as bold. At a young age he set out alone....away from Brazil...away from his family...and out into the world to discover. After a few years spent abroad with the Brazilian army and having the opportunity to experience a considerable group of countries within Eastern Europe....he set out to Canada. The trip was very spur of the moment, as he told me, and it actually started with the idea of his friend who had always dreamed of going to Canada but didn't have the desire to go alone. He asked Rodrigo to take the trip with him, Rodrigo said okay..... his friend's visa was denied....lol....Rodrigo's wasn't. So without a second though, Rodrigo went alone and did his own thing. In total, 13 years spent outside of Brazil and within the cultures of several countries....he's a man with many ideas and experiences. From Brazil to Europe to Canada to the U.S.A. and back to Brazil again...he speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and German....this guy knows his world, and as he asks me if I would like some barbecue sauce for my drumstick, I'm reminded that he knows his food toooooo. (Mmmm...mmmm!)

A Spaniard man in his scarf and Beret

The Brahma runs out and go into the kitchen to get the Itaipava while Jill reminds me of the delicious Bloody Mary's she made and hands me a glass. Spicy and salty with some green olives in the bottom of the cup, they are to die for. I go back to my table and Nicholas (the Frenchman) sets his guitar down to have a chat and asks me if I know any Spanish. Very little, I reply....and ask why. There is a much older man sitting beside him, about 65-70 years of age, wearing a black beret and thick rimmed glasses, that I hadn't met. He leans over to listen to my response and begins speaking to me in Spanish, I guess assuming that "a little" means, "enough" lol. So here we are, a young American girl, a middle aged Frenchman, and an elderly Spanishman...exchanging words in Portuguese...English...and Spanish. Lol. Something rare to see unless you happen to work internationally for your government. The Spaniard talks some in Portuguese,with his strong Spanish accent, and what he can't say in Portuguese...he says in Spanish....and the small bit I don't understand in Spanish...Nicholas translatese for me into English...which I then respond to in Portuguese. Haha....even writing it is difficult, Idk how the conversation worked....but it did. He tells me that he came for the first time to Brazil in 1975 for a job of his, he is an engineer, and after a short time here....he fell in love with the country and wanted to remain forever. He decided not to return to Spain, and instead married a Brazilian woman and started a family in a city about an hour from Taubate. We talked some about the different things that we both loved about Brazil, the closeness of people, the gorgeous land and weather, the heavenly food. He still visits Spain, he tells me in this Portuguespanish language he seems to have created on his own. A very intelligent man with so much of his own culture and language still within him, his 25 year old son looks at him with a laugh and says that with my 2 months in Brazil, my Portuguese is better than his father who has been here for 30 years. His appearance his European, but his heart is truly Brazilian...he tells me he would never again live in Spain.

Paraguay vs. Brasil, 2011 game during the Copa Americana

During this conversation, some of the guys go into the house to grab one of the TVs and bring it out into the backyard area. They plug it in and the TV is loud with nothing but white noise and black lines dancing across the screen....two of them continue messing with the antena and switching channels back and forth, seeming a bit desperate.... but I'm too preoccupied in my conversation to be concerned with what, exactly, they are attmempting to do. From the corners of my eyes, eye notice the kids start grabbing the plastic chairs near the tables and arranging them into a sort of half moon around the TV, in suspense of what is to come. As I'm talking with the Spaniard and the Frenchman, I borrow a lighter from Nahed (the woman from the Middle East) to light my last ciggarette and the white noise finally faids from the background. Cheers explode as I finally turn my full attention to everyone..... and they turn their chairs to enjoy the game.

Brazil vs. Paraguay.

The screen is still fuzzy, the white noise coming in every now and then, but the conversations around us cease, the grill is left unattended, the food untouched....

Because in Brazil...
Soccer is life. Soccer is friends. Soccer is culture, excitment, passion, and fun.

I look around me and can't help but smile and remember how VERY different each one of us at this barbecue is....how VERY different each country is that we represent....how VERY different each language is that we each speak....and how....

For the next hour....

As we glued our eyes to the television
As we clapped at every victory
As we yelled at each mistake

We were all equal....

and all Brazilian.

Cândido Portinari, "Futebol" (a group of neighborhood children in Brasil making a game of futebol...or soccer as Americans say)

Portinari was one of the most important Brazilian painters, muralist and also a prominent and influential practitioner of the neo-realism style in painting. He is regarded as the greatest artist Brazil has produced. After the 1940s Portinari became an international Brazilian icon. Café, Morro, Monumento Rodoviário da Estrada do Rio-São Paulo are some of the works that consecrated him as a distinguished painter. “Portinari’s ultimate artistic consecration came with his War and Peace murals of 1953, which he painted for the entrance hall of the United Nations headquarters in New York.”

American Cowboy vs. Brazilian Cowboy

Ahhh....so one new thing Ive learned since being away is that Im terrrrible at keeping up with a blog. lol. So much has been going on and I dont have internet in my apartment...and my laptop hasnt been working at work....so basically the only way I can update this thing is if I borrow someones computer, like Im doing now. Lol. And please dont pay attention to all the punctuation mistakes on here bc this is a Brazilian laptop and I have almost no clue how to use anything on it besides the letters.

Soooo.....some highlights from the past few weeks...there are so many it is difficult to narrow it down. For starters...I went to a wedding last weekend in a town about an hour from Taubate. It was soooo much fun, really. Most everything in a wedding ceremony functions the same here as in the U.S. None of the bridesmaids wore matching dresses....and they hired trumpet players and an opera singer to do the music during the ceremony. Afterwards everyone went from the wedding to the afterparty. The parents of the bride rented a big party place, complete with a dancefloor and bar. To get into the party they had bouncers with a list of names at the door and your name has to be on the list. You go in and find a table and they had about 20 servers that walk around giving everyone everything they need for the whole night. Beer after beer after beer after beer....etc. Lol. Then they had all kinds of traditional Brazilian finger foods (esfihas...coxinhas...etc) and after everyone was drunk and full....they pass around the cake.

(coxinhas, they have cream cheese and chicken inside)

These are esfihas...they either have chicken or beef inside and you usually squeeze lime juice on them as you eat them.

This is a Bolo Brigadeiro....a Brigadeiro cake. Brigadeiro is a very typical Brazilian sweet make with butter, milk, cocoa, and condensed milk. Its very sweet and usually eaten with chocolate sprinkles on top (like here). On a Brigadeiro cake, you place a layer of Brigadeiro in the middle of the cake and instead of using icing on the top, you use Brigadeiro. Its sooooo yummy! :)



The DJ played all kinds of music; American and Brazilian. They even played the YMCA and the Macarena, lol. We arrived there around 8 and didnt leave until close to 3 if I remember correctly. I danced and Samba-ed so much that my butt was sore the next day lol. It was sooooo much fun. I did have a hard time in deciding what to wear, though. The fashion here is so different...especially with women I think. Its very popular to wear black black panty hose with every dress...if you go out of the house panty-hose-less....people will stare. It doesnt seem appropriate to them...so I bought some black panty hose and wore a little black shawl thing around my arms.

Heres how the wedding was. Lol. Notice all of the funny headgear and glasses? They passed out some for everybody, along with flashing colorful icecubes to put into your drinks while you danced. Lol. Eventually the bride and groom put on funny wigs and boas and danced in the middle with everyone. 

Here are some typical outfits in Brazil for a girl to wear to a club, out on a date, or to a wedding. Something okay to do there that wouldnt okay to do in the U.S. (which I had to do for the wedding) is to wear black pantyhose with black heels with a black dress....I felt like I was going to a funeral, lol. Another popular thing to match is black and brown...you see lots of girls wearing brown dresses with black pantyhose and brown boots...and with gold jewelry. 

Here are some pics of  famousBrazilian girls wearing the black and brown fad.

This Friday I went to this hugggge festival (Expo Vap) in a city called Pinda (about half an hour from Taubate) that was soooo much fun. It was really interesting to see the differences between an American fair and a Brazilian fair. One thing I found interesting is that in Brazil, most allll of their fairs are during the winter time.....never in the summer. I guess since its scorching hot all year long....Brazilians really enjoy to be outside in the cooler weather. Apparently this has been the coldest winter theyve had in a long time....and the coldest it ever gets its like 60 degrees F, but I would personally prefer to be at a fair in the 100 degree weather than in the 60 degree weather. All the rides were the same....they have the egg scrambler and the ferris wheel and the swinging ship. Fireworks went off periodically.....I seem to be hearing fireworks allll the freaking time in Brazil. They love fireworks, lol. If their team wins a soccer game, they go get fireworks....for a bday...they go get fireworks....at the wedding I went to...fireworks....and then my students told me that the cops and drugdealers use fireworks to locate each other lol.


 Anyways...so there was this hugggggge food area in the fair with alll kinds of goodies that you never see at a fair in the U.S. One area was all sweets....with chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered coconut, this wonderful sweet called beijinho which means little kiss. Ah...so good. Then they have the hotdog and hamburger area....which are sooo amazing too. They put mashed potatoes, peas, and sliced carrots on their hotdogs and burgers....its amazing. They had another area for espetinhos which are meat shish-ka-bobs and then an area for chinese food, shrimp, and churros.
 O-M-G. crazyyy....good.

here is a typical Brazilian hotdog....or cachorro quente as they call them....you have corn peas little fried potatoes lettuce mustard ketchup mayo peas mashed potatoes and in rio de janeiro you put raisons and guine eggs as well. YUM!

Beijinho!!!! They are really little and really sweet. Made of sugar, condensed milk and lots of coconut.

These are Churros.....I think its actually a Mexican dish but Im not sure. They are like thick fried funnel cakes and they have a machine that pokes a hole in the middle and fills it with flavoured condensed milk (either chocolate, caramel, or vanilla) and then they sprinkle the outside with sugar. Sooo fattening but sooo good.

espetinhos!!! here they have chicken, steak, and sausage.

LUAN SANTANA!!!!

They had a really famous singer in Brazil named Luan Santana performing that night at midnight and I got to watch, and they had a big rodeo going on as well.

Here is a Brazilian Rodeo Cowboy at the EXPOVAP with his Brazilian flag.

Heres another pic taken from the EXPOVAP (you can see the stadium seating from this angle)

This is the concert arena where Luan Santana performed....around the sides the have stadium seating where people also watch the rodeos from, earlier in the day before the concerts.

Some Brazilian Rodeo Cowgirls at the EXPOVAP

 It was so much fun....omg...the place was so full that I had to climb up on the bars of the seating arena to see Luan. Check out the website....it has alll the pictures and everything....just click FOTOS.

http://www.expovap.com.br/fotos.asp
I was there 08 de julho.


This is a video of my favorite song by Luan Santana:

THENNNNN....on Saturday we had a Festa Junina for all the teachers and workers at my school. Festa Junina means: little June´s party. So the whole month of June people throw these parties which are basically just country celebrations (like farm and cowboy country). You eat a lot of traditional country food (typical country food of Brazil) and you dress up in plaid dresses and shirts with straw hats. Its really cute. The funny thing is that Brazilians like to party soooooo much....that even when June is over....they are still throwing these June´s parties. Lol. I got to the party pretty early....like around 6...and didnt get home until about 3. Everyone brought beer and food...there was soups and hotdogs...and different kinds of candy. The food is so delicious....I love all the June´s party food.

This is an old painting of a Festa Junina party. See the little colorful triangle flags? Those are usually hanging up at every Festa Junina party you go to.

Some Brazilian children dressed up in typical Festa Junina wear :)

Here are some Festa Junina sweets....they use a lot of condensed milk, peanuts, and coconut in most of the sweets here. They also serve corn on the cob, a green legumes and potato soup, and this really delicious hot wine (red and white) that they heat over the fire with cinnamon, clove, oranges, and apples.

Caldo Verde: the green legumes and potato soup

Hot wine!!!! Ive got to get the recipe before I come back because this stuff is amazzzzzzing.

Shards of Glass

Still enjoying Brasil :) Making sure not to take a day for granted. Sometimes being down here can feel like you're in a totally different world. Things work soooo differently. I wanted to try and find some pics so that you could see a little of what I see. In order to explain this photo, you have to understand the crime in Brazil. It's MUCH MUCH greater than in the U.S. There are more people living in poverty who are much more desperate and willing to steal from people. Because of this, there are high walls around nearly every business and house. (I will show more pics to explain) In modern times (from the late 1990's on) the tops of these fences are covered in electric wiring to keep robbers from climbing over, but back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's when construction sites were building these cement walls, they would stick broken pieces of colored glass all over the tops of the walls in order to make it dangerous to climb. Even though these shards of glass were meant for safety purposes only, I find them really beautiful and unique looking. I love them. They are so random and unorganized, bright and dangerous......they sum up the essences of Brazil. Lol. A lot of Brazilians will hate me for saying that but I say it with love, I really love these small things about Brazil that make it so original.

Here is just an example of the gates that are guarding nearly every house in Brazil (at least if you live in town). This one was the best I could find, but most of the time the gate will go all the way to the top so that there is no space to get through and the window and front door are also guarded with an extra gate to keep unwanted people out. Another thing thats very different about the houses in Brazil is that they are all sorts of different colors. You never see a brick or wooden house without some sort of bright paint covering the whole thing. This house here is a pretty mild yellow but its very common to see hot pink, lime green, aqua blue, bright purple....whatever crazy color you could think of, they have a house that has it, I swear. Lol.

Now, some Brazilians (those a bit wealthier....upper middle class I would call it) have the option of living in a "Condominio Fechado" which is a gated community. Security guards keep 24/7 watch on who is allowed in and out and members of the community get cards to give them access and if you are visiting a friend, you must tell the guards the name of the friend and they will call to make sure you're allowed. The places are really nice though. You're house doesn't need to be guarded by a gate and the company that owns that community even provides a free gym and pool area for the family to use whenever. Also, if you notice, NONE of the houses or buildings in Brazil are built on a wood base, they are all cement and brick based, which is very different from what we see in the U.S. This house here is all brick and cement and is about 3 stories high.

Well, I guess I should catch you up on my last week in Brazil :) Probably the biggest event that happened was one of Fernando's friend's parents, Lol....that was confusing to write....anyway, they were celebrating their 25th anniversary together. In the U.S. we might send them a card, or bake them a cake, they might go on a little honeymoon trip together....but this isn't the U.S.....it's Brazil and Brazilians will use any excuse to throw an over the top extravagant PARTY! Remember that place that I told you about a while a go that I went to watch a soccer game? Well, it was at a place just like that. Decorated beautifully, completely catered with suishi and steak and every kind of delectable dessert you can think of. It was amazing, more extravagant than any wedding I've been to let alone an anniversary party. They hired security guards to park everyone's car for them and wine and beer was all the house with 2 or 3 open bars with bartenders who would make whatever you wished! They had a lit up dance floor complete with disco ball and amazing music from a live band. The company that was hosting the party actually surprised this couple with a famous Brazilian singer named, Ed Motta. I'll post a picture below.

They played all the old classic disco music, mostly all American. There were about 500 people total for this event. It started at about 8:30pm and lasted until around 5:30am. Lol. At the end of the night they had the girls line up to get a free pair of custom made white and silver havaianas flipflops that we could wear in case our feet were tired of the heels. lol.

Heres a pic of some havaianas. The one's we got had little diamonds on the top and instead of flower decorations on the soles, they said "25 years"and the names of the husband and wife. They were really cute. I had a blast. :)

Compare and Contrast :)

(these are most of the top phone companies in Brazil...or their logos at least. Oi means "hi", Claro means "it's clear...or of course" and Vivo means I live)

Soooo.....a lot has happened...as usual....over the past few days and I haven't had the time to keep up on my blog, lol. First things first! I got a cellphone FINALLY. I've been searching for nearly a week but the cheapest new cell phone that you can buy is like $70.....but Fernando had a friend (a.k.a. TANK) who sold me his old one for $30. The cool thing in Brazil is that, due to the high percentage of poverty (and to the fact that landlines in homes are even moreeee expensive than cellphones) cell phone companies have more options here than in the U.S. ......So, for example, you can have a phone....and not EVER have a plan on it....not EVER pay for minutes....and if you dial 9090 before punching in the number you want to call, what will happen is when the person answers the phone, an automated voice will say something like "If you answer this person's call, you will be paying for the minutes. If you still want to take the call, press 1". It's great because this way, I can have a phone without paying for ANY minutes and still be able to contact who I need to contact. And some people who are wealthy enough already have unlimited minutes anyway...so they aren't really "paying"for the call....they're just keeping me from having to pay. Brazil has a lot of "progressive"things like this that I would have never even thought about if I hadn't come here. It makes me wonder what else works differently in other parts of the world.

(these pics show the inside half of the Mutley club...pretty cool,eh???)

I'm really excited about tonight :) All the teachers from my school are going to have a "barbecue"party after the lessons are over. Apparently there is an American guy names Lamar who is dating one of the teachers at my school. He's really wealthy and lives in a realllllly nice apt in Taubate so it should be a lot of fun. Brazilians know how to have fun ;) Afterwards there is a club called Mutley that we're going to (probably around midnight or so). Brazil has such amazing weather that some clubs, like Mutley, are able to actually be outside...or well, half outside. It sounds strange, I know, but I've been to one before and they're really nice. You have a dance floor and a bar, and the landscaping is always beautiful....they usually have lights hanging all over the trees and everything....of course there is fencing around the area as well....but the bands are always live so there is great music. It's a lot of fun....I wish Oklahoma had nice enough weather year round to have something like this.

This is where Brazilians "barbecue". Nearly every single house, and even some apts (if you live in a penthouse) has one of the areas with a stone oven, outside of the house....usually in the backyard. This is where they cook shish kabobs of steak, pork, chicken, and veggies while drinking beer and eating peanuts or olives, etc. Brazilian barbecues usualllllly start very early in the day (2pm) and often last until midnight or later. You just cook, drink, eat, and hang out with friends and family all day. It's SO much fun. No burgers or hotdogs here, Lol....just GOOD healthy food.

Catch Up Time

Welllllll....its been 3 days so far in Brazil and I've already done a crap job in keeping this thing updated. So much happened this weekend that it feels like I've been here for a full week or even two. Lol. My airplane experience was terrible. Omg...Lol...but more on that in a bit. The day I left for Brazil was on Friday and my mom, Sawyer, Tess, and me went to the airport (along with little Ember who was safe in mommy's belly :) and Kailee and Wes met us there in order to say goodbye. It was sad, and my mom cried....but for some reason I never seem to cry when I'm at the airport....at least not about being sad because I'm going. I always cry when my plane is taking off into the air because I'm always so thankful and feeling so blessed that I'm getting the opportunity to do what I love, again. The first time I came back from Brazil after being gone for a month, back in 2008, I cried when I saw my mom for the first time in the airport not because I had missed her....but because I knew that when I saw her....I really was back in Oklahoma...back in the U.S.....back from my trip....and I didn't want to be... Lol. She was so angry with me, haha.  She always cries at the airport....and this time was no different, but she let me go and told me she was proud of me. We loaded the plane in Oklahoma and after sitting there for half an hour, the pilot gets on the intercom to tell us that the left engine isn't working and they will need to call for a mechanic while we unload. UGH....so we all get off and I'm thinking....I only have a 2 hr layover in Dallas to catch my flight to Brazil and if this takes much longer, I'm going to miss it!!!!! We all sit around for half an hour more and then they tell us that the flight is cancelled....I get a sick feeling in my stomach and everyone starts lining up in front of the flight attendents in order to get help. Luckily I was one of the first ones in line bc even so....I waited for another 45 minutes before I even got help. At first the lady tells me that there are no other flights that can get me on a plane to Brazil tonight but after a few minutes she finds a flight with another airline (Continental) thats leaving in just half an hour for Houston but she will need to get my luggage out of the AA airplane and I will have to RUN and get them from the baggage area and then recheck everything in through Continental. Man....I've never rushed so fast in my life....and I seriously barely made it on the flight. After landing in Houston I went to my next gate.... and it always brings me so much happiness everytime I wait at these gates on the flights to Brazil. Brazilians fill up the whole area...Portuguese is everywhere....and I feel like I'm right where I need to be. I love it.  :)

-GRU

After a longgggg day on the plane, I finally arrived in GRU....the huge airport in Sao Paulo....happy and ready to get out of the plane and into my new home. Fernando met me at the airport and we headed into Taubate to check on my housing. Even just the the hour and a half drive from Sao Paulo to Taubate will open your mind more than any Geography or History book could ever try to. The roads, the cars, the bikes, the hills, the trees....everything is so different from the U.S. It makes you question everything about your life when you see it. It's amazing.

-maid room

We got to the house I would be staying in for the next 7 1/2 months. In Brazil, it's very common for middle class families to have maids who will do all the housework (cook, clean, wash and dry the clothes, etc...) for almost no pay. For working nearly 50 hrs. a week, they making roughly $400 per month. Often, the family will have a small apartment located behind the house, usually no more than 40 square feet with a bedroom and bathroom combined. I'm no maid :) but in one of these "maid houses" is where I will be living for $200 a month. I really love it though, it's perfect for me and in a third world country....you can't expect much more. My family is really nice as well, they welcomed me with open arms and were actually excited to know that I was American (In Brazil, learning English is a pretty big deal and any opportunity to do so is usally taken).

(this is an old photo of Fernando's weekend house...before the lake and the kid's playground that they added about a year or so ago)

After housing was settled, it was off to the "weekend house" we go, lol. Fernando's dad has a really nice house about 20 minutes away from Taubate that the family likes to go to during the weekends. It's out in the country and it has a pool, a sauna, a soccer field, a basketball court, a barbecue pit, and 5 bedrooms. It's the perfect place to go and relax....hills surround the whole area....exoctic plants and animals that will make you wish you lived there. In Brazil, everbody is very welcoming....talkative...relaxed....open....its something to adjust to for sure....considering the Individualism that runs rampant in the U.S......but with my 3rd visit to Brazil....none of this comes as any shock to me and appreciate all the differences between the cultures of Brazil and the U.S.

-Brazilian beers!

That night was a night for celebration....and Brazilians know better than anyone how to have a celebration, Lol. I'm pretty positive that they party more than any other group of people in the world...with at least (and this is no exaggeration) 2 parties per week....EVERY week. They make Americans look like a bunch of recluses. Lol. It was a great night...I drank quite a bit of Brahma and Itaipava and Skol (the popular beers of Brazil), and ate quite a bit of Habib's to sober me up (Habib's is a famous Arabian fast food chain in Brazil....one of the very few fast food chains that Brazil has). I don't think I've ever slept so well in my life....ah, Brazil. ;)

(a night time photo of the place that was rented for the game)

Sunday was the big game!!! Soccer is a religion over here....seriously....in fact...I think some Brazilians are more passionate....more defensive....and more in love with their soccer team....than their God. A very wealthy friend of Fernando rented an entire party building, complete with a band, a bar, a dancefloor, catered food,  2 ponds, 3 acres of beautiful scenery, and a projector screen TV just to watch the event of Palmeiras vs. Corinthians. 2 rival soccer teams in Brazil. People decorated their tables with shirts of their team and screamed louder during a foul than any American even screams during a goal made at the Super Bowl. Lol. I couldn't do anything more than laugh to myself and be happy that I was somewhere as colorful and as animated and as full of life as I was. Corinthians won, of course :) Which is my team now, I guess, but only because Renato said so. Lol.



Okay....are you caught up yet? Gosh....I'm going to remember to write on this thing everyday, I swear....bc this much writing for a single post is simply ridiculous...and I actually left a lot of details out. But...we are finally at TODAY. And today is the most important day of all because today was the day that I got my very first overseas job!!! My interview with Exacta (my English teaching school) was a 2pm. Ana is the name of the girl who interviewed me, a lady who has spent the past 14 years of her life studying English and has never even had the chance, or the money, to travel abroad. She liked me so much that she asked me to come back at 4pm to start training.

I'm so happy. This is everything I've been working for, for the past 3 years of my life. I'm watching my dreams unfold before my very own eyes and I could not have done this without the wonderful family that has done whatever possible to help me reach my goals. You guys have no idea how thankful I am....and how blessed I feel. Thank you for everything....I look forward to sharing more of my experiences over these next 7 months with you and with myself.

Last Full Day In the U.S.A.

So it's my first post on my new blog :) and as if I don't have a million other things that I should be doing today, I'm sitting in front of my mom's laptop typing away. I'm so nervous about leaving....I don't even know where to begin on my packing. I just keep putting it off and off and off in the hopes that at some point (very soon) I will get the motivation to start! There are clothes strung out alllll over my little brother, Sawyer's, floor and about 6 trash bags of clothes in my mom's Yukon that all need to be gone through and washed...not to mention my passport is still down the road in my grandpa's rent-house. I swear, I'm usually better prepared for trips than this. It's not like I haven't done this EVERY summer since 2008. I guess I'm just more in denial this time about leaving my family for the rest of the year. My mom will give birth in September to a new baby sister that will be nearly 4 months old by the time I get back....my other little sister, Jonah, will be nearly a year when I return....and Sawyer will have to celebrate his 7th birthday without me (his Tee-Ty). It is hard to think about and it's all I've been thinking about this week. Don't get me wrong though....I'm OVERJOYED to finally be doing what I've had planned for over a year now. Ever since my first trip to Brazil, I've wanted to find a way to come and live there for at least 6 months to learn the language and become immersed in a culture outside of the U.S. I always do what I say I'm going to do and this trip is just yet another testimony to that. :)