and like that (north-american) summer was over…i can’t believe it’s already september.

i’m gonna cut the small talk and give you a look at some things i’ve seen lately. enjoy!

so, i have lost count of the days. i’m guessing that by now i’ve passed day 40/180 but i really am not sure. anyway, i’m back just to drop a lil update on what i’ve been up to lately, which when i really think about it has been a lot of nothing. my orientation session ended almost two weeks ago, and since all the summer and sao paulo students have already left salvador, i’m here now just with the final crew. i’ve been spending most days at the beach and most nights around town at different bars. until two days ago, i had been going out until after 3am (and sometimes later) every night for as long as i can remember. then it hit me that perhaps this isn’t the best thing for my health. and that perhaps i should try to get onto a normal sleep schedule before classes start next week. i’m actually looking forward to having something else to do than bake in the sun and get drunk. i’ll be taking a brasilian lit class about early 20th c. lit from the likes of jorge amado and clarice lispector, and i’m also taking brasilian folklore, which i heard is a really cool class with a dope professor. i feel like such a nerd but i can’t wait to meet brazilian students who are into what i’m into. i’ve been dying to have a serious bookworm poet conversation to balance out all this carefree fun i’m having, hehe =P. nah but for real though, i finally got my hands on a list of literary events here in salvador that i will be dragging someone to. but nah, i actually did meet another poet yesterday, had a nice refreshing conversation about brazil that didn’t revolve around boys or booze. i’ve decided lately that i need to travel around some more, see the sites. i already know that i have a certain chip-toothed tour guide willing to take me wherever my heart desires: morro de sao paulo, itaparica, mar grande, chapada da diamantina…so i think i’ll take him up on that offer. as much as i need to get away, i’m also starting to enjoy my home-life here. since i’m so shy and quiet, it has been hard to open up to my family and get comfortable, but i’ve been putting in a little more effort to speak portuguese with them and especially to play and communicate with my 5-year-old “host niece” Letícia. it’s frustrating sometimes because she speaks with a lisp, and doesn’t enunciate a lot, and then she often doesn’t understand my accent either. but other times she’s hilarious. she loves to dance and sing. right now she’s really into the disney movie, camp rock, so she makes up the words to the songs in english. today was the first day that i really played with her though. i had talked to my lil bro earlier, and have in general been thinking about and missing my family, so i resolved to play today. anyway, i showed her the camera on my computer and recorded some videos then we looked up the camp rock website and watched some videos on youtube. it was fun, reminded me so much of kyle. then afterward we played a drawing game that turned out to be kinda like pictionary. it was so cute though cuz i don’t know a lot of random vocab so she would draw things that i didn’t know the names of, so i’d kinda guess and make them up and she’d correct me and eventually i had done it enough to the point that she asked me, “they don’t speak the same language (portuguese) in your city?” and i said “no, i speak english” and she said “oh, well i can count to ten in english” and she did. anyway, later she asked me what a “profissão” (profession) was and i was able to explain it so that she understood. it was actually kinda cool to be able to teach and learn simultaneously. it was also really satisfying to be able to play and make jokes in portuguese and it also relieved some of the anxiety that i was having about my host family (particularly the fact that i asked to be placed in a large family with young kids, which is pretty much opposite of how i’ve been living for a long time)…but i’m finally getting used to everything here. last night i had a dream in portuguese. don’t know what it was really about but i remember Ieda, my host sister who is Leti’s mom, saying something to me and i just understood without thinking. i love realizing that i’m learning. ah, this is the good life indeed. i’m still kinda tempted to stay for the whole year, like super super duper tempted. but i would like to graduate on time and start grad school. the more i think about it though, the more i think i can make it work. but i really don’t know. maybe i’ll get lucky and find work here and never go back to get my mfa. ugh life is hard. decisions are hard. oh dear. anyway, i’m running out of steam. i’m exhausted. all this english at one time has worn me out =P

ate mais minha gente

beijoooos

Today in my Portuguese language class, we watched a documentary called Falcão: Meninos do Trafico. The film, produced by the famed rapper MV Bill from Rio de Janeiro, follows several pre-adolescent and adolescent boys who participate in drug trafficking in various favelas in Brazil. Also published as a book, the documentary is very heavy and very sad, but it shows a reality which is unfamiliar to most people, or which so far has only really been made visible through the international popularity of the film Cidade de Deus. However, unlike City of God, there are no cute babies (re: Cidade dos Homens), no best friends, no Seu Jorge, and no fun soundtrack (though there are snippets of MV Bill’s songs and some baile funk here or there.) Although the slang and accents are tricky to understand sometimes, anyone who understands Portuguese ought to watch this film. I don’t think there is a version with English subtitles yet but I may be wrong. You should look for it either way. The whole film is available on youtube in Portuguese. Please watch.

i feel sort of bad for not writing as much as usual. i know i keep making the excuse that i’m adjusting (which i am) but i still feel like such a slacker for not having written anything. not just here. i haven’t written anywhere, i was keeping a daily journal until about a week ago but even that has kind of diminished. my classes are just really wiping me out, so in addition to going out and sleeping, i have just found no in between time to read or write. i have about 6 hours of class each day Monday thru Thursday, starting with a Brazilian culture class from 9-11, a four hour lunch and nap break, which is followed by Portuguese class from 2-5:40. Most days have been rainy since it is the winter here, but I have been able to go to the beach a couple times already. My tan is not where it needs to be. Compared to everyone here, I look like I’ve been living in a cave for a year. Anyway aside from contemplating my complexion, I have been doing other more interesting things. Yesterday morning I had a Dança-Afro class, which I may continue to take. Then, at night, I had my first (and maybe last) capoeira class. I was excited to go and it was well worth the $10R ($7US) but I think I might stick to dance… I actually was okay at following the basic exercises: It was like taking aerobics or kickboxing…but once we had to do partnering and the roda, I was horrible! If I were one to be easily embarrassed, it would have been embarrassing. I sucked, but everyone was patient with me, so I still had fun…One thing that I am really enjoying is that I feel like I am learning something new everyday, whether it be a word, an expression, a dance move, or a cultural idea. Although I am in the highest level of Portuguese that is offered for our language orientation, I still need a lot of practice speaking, which would be a lot easier if I was talkative, but I’m getting better. I find myself sometimes thinking in Portuguese. I find myself sometimes forgetting that I’m in Brazil, or forgetting that I am not at “home.” This is a different kind of home, I think. It happens a lot when I’m riding the bus or walking because thats usually the only time that I am alone, and oddly since I’m used to being alone in Philly, that’s when I feel most at home. I spend the rest of my time with program folks or my host fam, who are super nice. I have a Mae, 2 older sisters and an almost-6-year-old “host-niece.” She’s adorable. It’s actually kind off hard to play with her though, because I can’t understand her a lot of the time. She has a lisp and sometimes doesn’t pronounce anything sharply enough for me to even guess what she’s saying. Another language-related thing that I’ve noticed is that I am beginning to have trouble speaking and writing in English like sometimes I have to pause when I’m speaking to change the syntax of my sentences, or sometimes I make up words that don’t exist in English, or I won’t remember an English word that I want to say. So far, I have tried to use “pronunciate” and “orientate,” neither of which are “real” words. Maybe this is why I’ve been unable to write. My English brain is slowly being turned off, which isn’t too bad, given that I’ve written down a couple lovely phrases in Portuguese that will go well in those poems that I’m supposed to be writing while I’m here. I look forward to really writing again, rather than recounting, but I guess I really want to do both. I just need to figure out a writing schedule to get myself back on track. I may try writing in the afternoons, something I’ve never done (I usually write at night). We’ll see. I need to do something. I’m starting to miss it. Well…that’s all. Ate mais, gente.

Beijoooos

hey y’all:

i’m finally here in salvador. i’ve been here for a couple of days, but i’ve been finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with blogging. my internet connection is kind of wacky and honestly there’s just no reason, to sit inside on the computer all day when i can be reading on the beach or passeando com minha familia hospedeira [hanging out with my host fam.] so, with that in mind i think i will keep it real and say that i will only update this blog twice a week tops. i am keeping a personal journal and could post that here if i wanted to, but i’m not trying to put other people on blast or incriminate myself. that isn’t to say that my posts will be any less juicy and enjoyable…

and now with that preamble out of the way, i will give you all a little taste of what’s been going on since i got here:

yup, so i got my luggage yesterday. went out for the first time yesterday. danced a lot of forró at festas juninhas. other than that i’ve been watching a lot of tv (they love tv in Brazil,) eating a lot of delicious food and napping. i love it. i have classes tommorrow so i need to go to bed. more to come soon.

então, tchauzinho!

nao vou escrever aki ate eu chegar no brasil…ate ja.