list of “firsts” plus my address!
The first few days were a whirlwind of nerves, excitement, impressions, and “holy $h*t”!!! I kind of felt like there was a permanent knot in my stomach. It’s not completely gone, but I’m finally feeling comfortable here.
I think my biggest thing about studying abroad in Brasil was that I wanted to become authentically carioca (or as close as one can be in 6 months). I didn’t want to only talk to the other foreign students in English; I didn’t want to stay a tourist for very long. And it is hard because the first few days were more perfect than I could have imagined, having Jo and Samuel to show us around. Then, all the UCEAP program and other foreign students met and since then we’ve had meetings and tours and spent a lot of time together…which means a lot of English! I think it’s just slightly hard for me right now because it seems as if I have two options: 1) to have friends right now, and speak in English and look like a tourist but feel more comfortable conversing; or 2) to be uncomfortable but attempting to speak Portuguese and try to be perceived as friendly. I feel like I’ve been taking the easy way out by choosing option 1, so maybe that’s why I’m being so hard on myself, because that’s not how I wanted to be. But a friend here, Lexi, told me she looks at it in a different way: first, make friends while speaking English to each other (where you can more accurately know each other), and then transition to speaking in Portuguese with those newfound friends. I like that idea! But I also want to find amigos brasileiros…I’m thinking capoeira will help me with that :D.
more about Helena & the home life. For some darn reason, it is very difficult for me to understand her! Obviously I do somewhat, but I feel like I am always asking her “repita, por favor” ou “não entendo.” She speaks so fast (which, in the long run, will be good) and I just feel dumb! But she said something comforting to me… “você já chegou!” (You just arrived!). I guess it is true that I have only been here for 1 week…feels like at least a month!! I suppose I can’t be perfect straight out of the gate…but it’s still slightly demoralizing when she’s saying an important sentence and I just can’t understand what she is trying to say!! Also, I know I speak crappy Portuguese at the moment, but she doesn’t like to correct me! We’re working on this because there’s no point in speaking bad portuguese.
Helena and I have a nice time together. We have different schedules, but in general we are up early and home at night. We have a nice little routine of cooking dinner together while listening to the radio (where they speak muito rápido!!!) and then we sit and watch a famous telenovela called “Fina Estampa” together, which is ridiculously dramatic and we laugh and it helps me to learn conversational language. There’s usually some news-watching involved, too. Sometimes it occurs to me what exactly I am understanding in Portuguese, and on those moments I guess I am pretty empressed with myself! So I think I have a healthy dose of self-criticism and self-appreciation. 🙂
In other news…notable “firsts”:
-first brazilian bikini!
-first sunburn in said bikini. my bum-bum (pronounced boom-boom) is very sore. But very brazilian now 😉
-first tour of Rio’s entirety (slight exaggeration, it IS a big city!) including touristy things like Pão de Açúcar (literally means “sugar bread” now, but it was named when the Portuguese were here and they measured things entering the port by the pound…called pão back then)
-first churrascaria! = Brazilian-style steak house. They have a salad buffett, rice, feijoada (Brazilian national dish, basically beans with pork cooked in a sauce, soooo good!), and then a constant stream of waiters coming to the tables with ALL types of meat on these long skewers. They just plop it on your plate and slice it ever so perfectly…mmh!!
-first caipirinha (Brazilian drink, com abacaxi – pineappple) e ela é muito forte!!! it was very strong!
-first brazilian club attended (where they played AMERICAN music…)
-first samba learned (I think my butt was shaking enough to rival some brazilians!)
-first night staying out until 5 am (!!!!)
-first day of school in português! the ILP (intensive language program) started today…4 hours of class a day for 4 weeks! My class has 13 people in it, many from the US, but also 1 from Mexico and 2 from France. We talk, listen, write…use all the senses in portuguese!
-first jog around the lagoa. it’s a beautiful lake perto de minha casa (near my house) and I’m going to try to get a bike so I can ride to school! because the bus here is R$2.75 each way…that’s R$5.50 per day…times 5/week = R$27.5 for 6 months = R$660, not including weekends or other things! That’s over $375 on transportation alone in 6 months!! meu Deus!!!
The weather here is always hot – it never becomes “nighttime” weather, which is perhaps why they stay out so late!! The humidity is about 85% too, but honestly it’s not unbearable. But maybe I’m only saying that because the past few days there’ve been clouds. It’s the rainy season here so we’ve had intermittent showers, but they usually don’t start until later in the day (~5 pm) which is nice.
Well, I think that’s all the exciting updates I have. Oh! just so you don’t forget how AMAZING this place truly is….I was sitting here typing away and I hear some weird chirping and shuffling that sounds kind of like a mouse…so I look through the wall that is cut out above Helena’s air conditioner….and there are 2 parrots staring at me!!!! Beautiful green, red, yellow…smaller than I thought…but nonetheless!!!! There is also this amazing bird that has a funny call that wakes me up in the morning…I tried to phonetically type it but…just not the same at all. Anyway, there are lots of exciting things I’m seeing and doing every day, of course!
Abraços e amor para a todos!!!
Oh, also…if anyone is interested in sending me peanut butter, letters, goods, confetti, hot air balloons (I take no responsibility if it blows up in transit), you can do so to this address:
Haley Kitchens
a/c Linda Sousa, PUC-Rio, Coordenação Central de Cooperação Internacional
Rua Marquês de São Vicente, 225
Ed. Pe. Leonel Franca, 8º andar
22 453-900 Rio de Janeiro – RJ – Brasil
fyi the a/c stands for “aos cuidados de” equivalent to “in care of” 😀
Cozinhas Estrangeiras 