Responsibility and Rain

Woke up really late for class today because Amanda was using my phone and I think she put it on silent. Anyways I was about 10 minutes late to class and this is the second time this has happened. We were supposed to help move a microfinance bank to another location today, but they are not ready to move yet. I figure they partied a little too much during Carnaval and got behind on their work. We had a short class session with Daniel at the clinic about the economy of Brazil. I really enjoy our class sessions especially because this was the first spoken English I had heard for 6 days (didn't have Skype at the sitio, and no one spoke any English). The Brazilians have a very strange way of paying their bills and I'm still not sure if I really understand it. They do all their bill pay through ATMs. Also, each utility may use a different bank so you must go to that bank's ATM to pay for each utility. This seems so time consuming. There is no such thing as electronic bill pay and if you write a check then it can be cashed by anyone. I also learned that Brazil is the number one exporter of sugar and coffee, and number two in soy and corn. Also, prostitution is legal here, but it is illegal to be a pimp.

After our class we returned home but then had to leave at 2:00 for our 4:20 class at UFES. I didn't realize until today how much time I spend in commuting now that I don't have my truck. I think I finally figured out an easier way to get to UFES, but today it took about two hours to only travel maybe 10 miles. I started to think about how busy and stressed I would be if I were back in WV right now. I would probably be working 20 hours at the USDA, and picked up another job for some extra hours. I would be spending a lot of time with friends and probably still be really busy even though I had a easy schedule lined up for this semester. Here, on the other hand, I have very little responsibility and somehow it doesn't even bother me to ride the bus for 2 hours and not be able to do anything but people watch. My language barrier also inhibits me from being the one to plan everything which is typically my role back home. I put this picture of my little brother here because this is what I sometimes feel like. Please notice that he is reading my English book.... upside down. However, he is very happy about it. I draw a parallel with him.

Another thing that Nicole and I talked about today was how obsessed these people are with English music, clothing, movies, etc. I really don't like it because I feel like I am experiencing my own culture but in Portuguese. Brazilians do have a lot of their own TV shows, music, movies, clothing brands; but a lot of the popular things here are of English origin. I even watched a little of the movie "Stomp the Yard" (that's how bored I am for visual entertainment, I can't stream any TV shows here) but like all the movies it was completely dubbed over in Portuguese. I do think it is pretty funny when the people listen to music so much that they memorize the lyrics and sing them back in a very distorted accent. I know that a lot of time they have no idea what they are saying and that makes it so much funnier when they sing perverted lyrics of rap songs.

I am enrolled in two classes at UFES. The first one starts at 4:20 and ends at 6:00. It is the intensive class and Nicole and I are the only students. This class is very challenging and I find myself tired by the end. The second class is the basic class and I am in it with people from around the world. There is one other American, Fabi, three British, three Canadian, one Italian, one Argentinian, and one funny guy from Turkey. It is really a motley crew and I will have to get a picture of them for my blog. My teacher is named Glauciane Strey and is only 23 years old. She is a Brazilian citizen but of German descent and doesn't speak a lick of English. This makes class very entertaining. Since Nicole is so much better than me, it makes me look like the dunce in the first class. Then in the second class, the older people are really struggling to learn the language and make me look a little better.

We made some plans with Fabi for the weekend and then barely made it on our bus. It is only about a 40 minute ride home and I was starving by the time I got to the house. I think this was the first time in Brazil that I stuffed myself. The beans and rice are really deceptive and make me feel really full.

Tonight, it actually rained for the first time since I arrived in Brazil. We have had a few sprinkles but before now we had not had a real rain. The picture is horrible but I tried to capture the amount of rain from my window. This is looking out my window to the beach one street over. It really poured and I was excited because I thought that it would make the night a lot cooler but I was wrong. That's another way I am like a little kid. I wake up every morning in a wet bed not because I "peed the bed", but rather I "sweat the bed" every night.