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?)