The Rest of August

After writing up some of my August travels, things got hectic fast.

After Lençois, we all headed back to Salvador. The day we were there, we decided to go to some beach on some island with a group of American students studying abroad in Rio de Janeiro.  We took a rickety boat across the ocean for about 30-45 minutes, and then the students decided to take a taxi ride to this “tourist” beach. Once the car stopped, down some hidden path, we found out we had to cross a river in a boat (short trip, like 2 minutes rowing). We ended up on some beach with hammocks, seashore, etc., but were told we needed to eat the R$30 lunch. It also looked like a storm was coming in, and the wind was so strong we had trouble enjoying it. A few of us were really uncomfortable with the situation, because we felt trapped. We ended up making our way in the rain, walking across the river (which came up to my waist), and getting on a ferry (those that carry people and cars). Starving, cold, irritated, we walked back to the hotel, which was about an hour walk away. (We had decided to walk because we were told it was about 20 min away. It also started raining on the walk.)

Us getting in the boat to cross the river

Us on the boat heading back to Salvador

The storm we were caught in

Anyway, fast forward to the next leg of the trip: Rio de Janeiro. We explored Santa Teresea, Lapa, Copacabana, and Ipanema. Here is the story through pictures:

Overlooking Rio de Janeiro from the ruins in Santa Teresa

The Selarón Steps in Lapa

A waterfall in the Tijuca Forest. The Tijuca Forest is a forest in the center of Rio,
 and the forest that houses Christ the Reedemer. 

One of our friends

And here He is.

Another friend

Christ the Redeemer as seen from Pão de Açúcar

We ate "squeaky beach cheese," as someone called it, on Ipanema Beach.
They grill the cheese on coals they carry around in a pot.

Another view of the Selarón Steps.

We ate at Colombo, a ridiculously fancy bakery in Rio.
The mirrors are imported from Belgium, and Queen Elizabeth ate there when she was in Rio.

Next, we hopped on a bus and headed south to Paraty. We were couchsurfing once again, and found out we were staying about a 10 min drive out of town. We ended up staying in this house, with our own room, over looking a waterfall. Here is the story through pictures:

The cachaça distillery 10 min walk through the woods and over the river from the house we were staying at.
Cachaça is a liquor made from sugar cane. We tried all sorts of artisan cachaça.
The best was Gabriela: cachaça with nutmeg and cinnamon.

A rickety plank bridge that can only hold 2 people at a time.

Some type of fruit that know one remembers the name of.

At one point, Jake and I went on a walk through the woods around the house. This little puppy decided to follow us, and became our guide. We made our way to a rock, near the mouth of the river. We thought we were at the top, but then the puppy disappeared and we followed him through this small, barely visible path. Then, Jake and I weren't sure how to get back. Next thing we know, the puppy has run off in another direction. We end up at a path going two different directions: one going to a road and one leading into the woods. As Jake and I are discussing where to go, we head towards the road. The puppy sat down, and refused to follow us. So, we turned around and followed him. We ended up right in front of the house. Such a great guide!

First thing day 2, Jake and I headed to town. When we started walking around, we ran into a group of Americans. They invited us over for dinner that night. Jake and I decided to go to another distillery that seemed close. It ended up being a kilometer walk  uphill in the rain. Suffice it to say, the walk wasn't great. However, that night we ended up at their house and taught them how to do churrasco, make quentão, squeaky beach cheese, and they made a great pasta. 

The one not rainy day, we ended up going on a snorkeling trip. Here is Paraty from the boat.

At the first location, we both went snorkeling. All of a sudden, I end up getting called over to the boat and screamed. I forgot how much I am scared of fish. Let's just say that I didn't swim the rest of the time.

Jake snorkeling

One of the islands we visited

Our lookout with the Brazilian flag.

Most of the time, we just relaxed at the house, mostly in the hammock. 

The natural slide in Paraty was a giant smooth rock.
Some of the guys were doing crazy stunts over the slippery rocks.

This is one of the tanagers that were found in the area.
This one was found outside of the house.

I ended up getting fairly sick at the end of this trip. So, we stayed an extra two days before heading to São Paulo for my mid-year seminar. São Paulo ended up being a great time to see and talk to other ETAs, hear their experiences and connect with the ETAs in Uruguay and Argentina. All of our experiences have been quite different. Additionally, as important people are talking to us, those of us from Rio Grand do Sul start tomando chimarrão. Afterwards, not knowing if it was rude or not in São Paulo, one of the Fulbright guys from Rio Grande do Sul tells us next time, we have to let him know. He just wanted some too. Nevertheless, I was excited to get back to Rio Grande, and start the next semester.

However, only a few short, uncharacteristically warm days later, we headed back to Porto Alegre for a Linguistics conference. The thing no one realized was that it was more of students presenting their doctorate level research, assuming everyone in the audience understood very specific terminology and processes. Suffice it to say, it was not what we expected. But being that far north, we decided to take a weekend trip up to Gramado, a very European style town. It is also known for chocolate adn wine. The best part: the food! 

Here is the waterfall in Canela

We went to a crystal factory and watched them make a crystal vase. 

Here is the mascot of Gramado

Jake became a witch of chocolate.

We even found an Iphone.

Gramado is well known for their sequence of fondue. First, we were given a plate of hors d'oeurves of pickled things and bread. Then, we got cheese fondue with potatoes, and other yummy food. Next came this lovely thing. A stone, raw meat, and 10+ different types of sauces. Here we are grilling our meat. The last was chocolate fondue with a bunch of fruit.
SO YUMMY!

Besides the Fondue Sequence, Gramado is known for their café colonial. Here is a picture of eating it. What isn't shone is the dessert buffet. 

Wait...What?

“Hi! What is your name?” A boy, about 9 years old, asked as Luan and I waited at the bus stop. Luan and I were on our way to Cassino to look at some potential houses, and we were discussing the prospects in English. After telling the boy our name, and finding out his was Wesley (I tried really hard not to laugh at this because I was thinking of our friend Wesley), the boy asked me for an autograph (which I though Luan was joking about), and if Luan would take him to the US.

“But, you are her husband,” the boy responded, as he gave Luan a strange look.

“No, we are just friends,” Luan laughed.

“But, you are in love with her. I can see it in your eyes,” was the response we received. Luan was laughing so hard that he couldn’t translate the comment. At the same moment the mother turned and yelled something about respecting others at her son. Of course, the next question we got involved me knowing origami. What a strange question and funny kid!

After getting on the bus and being told to follow him, Luan and I took our time paying the fare and sitting down. Still laughing, Luan explained some of the comments the boy had made, saying, “See, you are kind of like a famous person here.” And, apparently, I needed to give the boy an autograph. I ended up writing always follow your dreams on a piece of paper and handed it to him as we got off the bus.

Seeing the houses was another story. The first place we saw was amazing, minus the location. It used to be a variety of business before being turned into a house. And, we would have access to everything, including the restaurant kitchen and all the appliances inside (you should have seen my face when I saw it), a fire/stone pizza oven, a churrasqueira, a bar area, and then everything in our respective house. The lady was amazing and told us, even if we didn’t rent the house, we should go over there and have a churrasco. Her husband spoke Chinese, and she is teaching him Portuguese (she doesn’t speak Chinese by the way). It was an amazing experience! The second house was horrible, and I never want to go back. However, today ended with a plethora of stories that I am sure I will never forget!

On a serious note:

Today the ETA's were sent an email about remembering to be safe. In the last month, several crimes involving ETA's in Brasil had occurred. Hearing about this made me realize that anything is possible, and realize how grateful I am to have the friends I have here, and the life that has been given to me in this southern city. My friends always walk Catherine and me home at night, take bus rides with us early morning or late at night, help us find housing, etc., just to make sure we are safe. We are picked up all over town and sometimes I take for granted the kindness and generosity we are shown. Moreover, I hope that all the ETA's that have been victims of crimes in Brasil are doing better!

This is one for the Books!

I don´t know what life would be like here if we didn´t have the friends that we have. Imagine going to bed at 2:30 in the morning and having to be up at 5:15 that same day. It isn’t a pretty sight. Well, that is exactly what happened. My husband is arriving in Brazil today, so we had to take the 5 hour long bus to meet him at the airport. Since he arrives at 2:45pm, the only available bus this morning was at 7am.

Last night at our friends’ house, we realized there really weren’t a lot of options in terms of getting to the bus terminal downtown. Luan had his computer up and was looking up the schedule as 10 other people were “discussing” what busses went in the morning and what schedule it was on because it is a holiday weekend, etc. Finally, it was determined that we had to catch the bus that left Cassino at 6am and went downtown. (We live on campus in the back. You have to walk to the front of campus to get student housing, which is in front of campus. Then you have to walk to the end of the road to get to the bus stop that takes you to nearby areas/cities. To walk this length takes about 25-30 minutes.) And, Wesley volunteered to take us to the bus terminal downtown. Why? I have no clue.

So at 5:45am, Catherine and I headed out to the bus stop. Once we were near the front of campus, Wesley and Luan met us to take us downtown. We were informed that they had gone to bed at 4am. How they were up two hours later is beyond me! But, they were so great about everything, even carrying our bags! I don’t think paying their bus fare downtown shows enough gratitude. 

Wesley, Me, Catherine and Luan
We are waiting for the 7am bus downtown

Culture Shock Wave Model

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are going, or the length of stay, but when you travel abroad for more than a month, you are told that life will follow a culture shock wave model. First will be the honeymoon stage: everything will be exciting and new, and it will seem like you are on top of the world. Then, at some point, you will reach a low. Life will seem difficult, for whatever reason(s). Lastly, life will even out. You will accept where you are and know what life really holds. However, this isn’t true.

According to Catherine, culture shock comes in waves daily. You might wake up happy, something might happen that brings you down and then something else brings you back up. I haven’t experienced culture shock in either of these ways, though. Instead, as I was exhausted yesterday, I began to feel down. For those of you that know me, you understand that not speaking is impossible for me. So, speaking minimally for several hours meant something was off, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

As I sat on a bus toward downtown to buy bus tickets for tomorrow’s trip to Porto Alegre, I realized that more than anything I missed Antigua, Guatemala. I missed walking down the street and having a panadería and café on every block. I missed the food found in Guatemala. And more than anything else, I missed being able to communicate competently with others. So, my first culture shock wave came not because I missed the U.S., but because I missed Guatemala. Although I know my battle with this culture shock wave isn´t over yet, I know my Portuguese is improving from nothing to something, and that I have great friends to help me work through the tough times!

Luan helping me work through tough times!

Cell Phones!

Today, Luan randomly showed up at 11am and asked if we wanted to go to the University Restaurant. Catherine and I had just finished doing our laundry, and weren’t exactly ready to go out in public, but we ended up having a great time. (See a picture of our laundry facilities on Catherine’s blog, here.) On our way out we ran into a handful of the guys we met at the barbeque. It made us feel like we were finally making friends.

After Catherine was finally ready to go out into the world, we headed over to our office to spend time on the internet. The only issue we had was that precious Facebook was blocked. We looked into what we wanted to do for Carnaval next week and we didn’t actually figure anything out. So much for being productive on the internet.

Rossana ended up finishing work early today, so she took us into town to finally get cell phones. It was like Christmas as a child. We were so excited that we didn’t put them down for some time. We divvied up the list of numbers we had to let them know we had phones. These are our new phones. At least we know they won’t be stolen!  

The phones are only identifiable by the theme of the phone and the background picture.

 On our way back to campus, Rossana stopped to get us food. (She is way too kind!) We stayed in the car as she ordered us food. When we were getting out of the car to go into the hostel, she noticed there was a note for us:

 

Bauru Box Reads: “We hope you Catherine Rylee! This Rosannas Friend”

It is considered a traditional food from Rio Grande do Sul, but is similar to a hamburger with an over hard egg. We didn't know what to expect. But once again, the food was amazing!

A burnt Catherine eating the bauru.

Food! Lots of Food!

I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL! My lovely husband decided the best way to tell me was to post a picture of the school mascot on my Facebook wall; nothing else.

Saturday night Catherine and I decided to venture downtown. It was just starting to get dark, but we thought maybe we could find a modem. Although almost everything was closed, we were able to find an internet café. This was the first time we had been on Facebook since arriving in Rio Grande Thursday night. Of course the first thing my husband sends me on Facebook is, “Have you seen your wall?” As I was about to scream, the lovely Ms. Catherine gave me that “don’t you dare” look. I stifled the urge and carried on.

In addition to the excitement of getting into grad school, I had a handful of friend requests. Earlier in the day, Catherine and I went to a churrasco (the Brazilian barbeque graduation party). It was a group of mechanical engineering students, so Catherine and I were 2 of the 5 girls in a group of 20ish people. When our friend arrived to take us to the party, he was 30 minutes late. As we got into the car, he asked, “Have you gotten used to the Brazilian way of telling time yet?” Which means, if someone says 11, the person will show up around 11:30. Then, when we arrived, we said hi to everyone. This consisted of starting at one side of the room (since the 15+ guys and 1 girl were sitting in a circle), and kissing each person on the cheek with a greeting of “tudo bem?” until we had greeted each person. It was a very long, but personal process. However, we weren’t introduced to everybody. Instead, we gradually met them as the day went on. Similar to making our way around while greeting everyone, every time one type of meat was done cooking and cut into small pieces, someone walked around in front of each person offering food. There must have been at least 4 different kinds of meat, all of which were amazing. (Kudos to the cook!) I was surprised how many people at the churrasco spoke at least rudimentary English. I felt so bad that I couldn’t speak Portuguese with them. But, everyone was so nice about it!

By the end of the day, we had made a handful of new friends! One of the friends, Luan, came by Sunday to hang out with us. Due to the weather, we didn’t make it to the beachs of Cassino. Instead, we walked to the nearnest supermarket to buy food for lunch. Catherine and I watched as four guys worked together to make lunch. It was quite an expereince! They made panquecas, which consisted of ground chicken rolled in a crepe-like thing, topped with a tomato sauce. Here is a picture!

as panquecas

See the part without cheese? Since I am allergic to dairy, one of the guys made a special batter without milk just for me. I felt so bad about my dietary restriction, but he was so nice about making a section specifically for me.

I think Catherine and I have started to see the humor of many of the people here. One of the cooks told us, if it tasted good, he made it. And, if it tasted bad, the other guy made it. Then we were asked which one made it. Catherine ended up serving the food and she kept giving me more! I guess the first guy made it because it tasted amazing!

First Day, No Internet

We are still having issues connecting to the internet. I have been able to get notifications from Facebook and email on my phone, but I can’t respond to anything. These issues ended with the Dean giving Catherine and me university computers that would connect to the internet. However, Facebook seems to be blocked in ILA (the language department in which we are working). This might seem trivial, but when the only way to communicate with other ETAs and students with whom we are supposed to be meeting, not having Facebook is a big deal. In addition, we don’t have access to internet in our hostel. So, Catherine and I found a way to entertain ourselves tonight: take words/objects around the kitchen and look them up in the Portuguese-English dictionary.

As for the rest of the day, it was fairly eventful. We sat in on/helped proctor a TOEFL test at 8am. It was interesting to see a standardized test taken in another country. We also met two of the four other faculty members in the department. I have noticed that my Portuguese has gotten better. This means that I can understand a lot more than I did a week ago, but my speaking abilities are still fairly low. However, we talked to a handful of new people today. Three guys were biochemical engineering students. Two of whom spoke English fairly well. Catherine did a great job of promoting the NucLi classes, though.

We also met a student who is studying to become a teacher. She helped us with questions we had about nearby areas, phones, laundry, etc. She also explained why so many people we saw were wearing rings. If there is a silver band on the ring finger of the right hand, the person is in a serious relationship. If there is a gold band on the same finger, the person is engaged. Lastly, if there is a gold band on the ring finger of the left hand, the person is married.

Rossana, Catherine, another professor and I then had lunch at a restaurant called Bamboo. This was Catherine and my first trip off of campus. The other professor then drove us around the downtown area and dropped us off near the shopping street. (This street is full of stores and cars are not allowed to drive on it. It is also several blocks long.) During this trip, we tried to buy phones and a USB modem to get internet for our computers. However, without a CPF, we were unable to do so. We think a passport will work, so hopefully tomorrow we will have unlimited access to internet.

The last piece of business today involved Catherine, Rossana and I meeting to discuss the game plan moving forward. We met in the office the university provided for Ingles sem Fronteras, which will be Catherine and my office. The meeting lasted two hours and we were rapidly going through all of the points we needed to discuss. After being told normally meetings aren’t very productive by American standards, we were very surprised how much we talked about/accomplished. We have the next month to plan classes, projects, workshops, etc. I also may be helping with a phonetics class and an applied linguistics class; both of which I am very excited to see.

As the day comes to an end, it is important to describe one of the hardest parts to which to adapt: the showers. This morning I took a shower in Catherine’s room because I needed to borrow body wash. So, tonight I decided I would take a shower in my own bathroom. BIG MISTAKE! Firstly, the long plastic tube hanging down from the shower head shoots out water (see accompanying pictures of the room). I figured that out after I put it over the side of the shower and it went all over the bathroom floor. Secondly, the shower door is not on the track and fell on me. Lastly, the water was fairly cold. I have decided from now on to take a shower in Catherine’s room. We have also decided that it is about time to look for a new place to live. We found out that Cassino is a beach town that people leave in the winter. Therefore, we are hopeful that we can find a furnished place to live that would work perfectly with our time frame. We shall see…

My Room

The bathroom: (See the water hose thing?)