I tried to sleep in today, but to no avail. The sun is very strong and makes my room an oven very quickly. After breakfast, I worked on my computer when I should have been doing homework and learning Portuguese. I really accomplished nothing today, but it was nice to finally catch up on things that have been hanging over my head since the states.
My family fed everyone lunch and I felt bad that they had to make extra for my friends but they said it was no problem. On Saturdays I have been trying to make it a habit of washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen. I don't really mind doing this and my mom really appreciates it. She and the rest of her family also think it is really weird. Amanda jokingly called me gay today for wanting to do this and I can tell that this is not normal here. Come to think about it, I have never seen my dad even take his plate to the sink, but he does help out with the cooking. I know that my dad thinks that my mom is doing a really great job at the house and he even told me that her job is harder than his, however, the gender roles here are much different than those in the states.
Nicole, Fabi, and I went to the beach after lunch and I finished up my reading for class (Nicole reminded me that we had more). The waves were especially strong today and looked like those off of the coast of Maine. After an hour or so at the beach, everyone went their separate ways and I took my longest run yet. I ran for about 1 hour 10 minutes and then did a short workout. I don't think I have ever exercised this much in my life, or at least since freshman year. I again got pretty dehydrated and spent ten minutes by the water cooler when I got back. These pictures are just of my view from outside my window. Next door you can see the construction site that wakes me up everyday, including weekends.
I finished up my homework and then was able to talk to mom, dad, Josh, Heather, Adeline (didn't do much talking), George, Abby, and Laurel. I'm not sure if this makes it easy or harder when I think about home, but I do really enjoy it.
Needless to say, I tried to sleep in as late as possible. My computer is on the edge of crashing and I've gotten the blue screen of death a few times so I worked on it for a few hours. Nicole and I had plans to go to Vitoria to visit with Fabi from our UFES Portuguese class, so I made the mistake of taking a run in the middle of the day. Usually it always extremely hot here, but the midday sun amplified the heat and for some reason I decided to run really far again. I found myself in the middle of Vila Velha on the edge of dehydration. I even hydrate before my runs, but I have never sweated this much in my whole life. By the time that I return from my runs, my entire mop of hair is soaking, I have to wring my shirt out (I take it off halfway through my run to wipe the sweat out of my eyes), and there is literally a puddle in the bottom of my shoes when I take them off. This day was no different. This picture doesn't really do it justice, but I am soaking from head to toe. It takes me no less than an hour after my run and a cold shower to finally return my body temp to normal without sweating.
Nicole and I left for Vitoria around 3 and finally made it to Jardim da Penha by 4:30. This is a different world from where I live. It reminds me of Europe and I actually feel really safe on the streets. We ate sushi at a small shopping center and then walked to the beach where I just relaxed. I didn't get in the water because Geli had warned me about the beaches in Vitoria. The raw sewage of Vila Velha is dumped beneath the third bridge (shown in this picture) and there is a very dirty foundry directly across the bay from where we were. Again, this was a different world. The beaches of Vila Velha are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, but there is the houses are not as nice and it is a little more dangerous. The beaches of Vitoria are dirty with trash and brown water, but the apartments are modern and there is much more access to options. I guess this is the classic tradeoff. Fabi's "sister" (Gabi) drove us back to Vila Velha so that we wouldn't have to ride the bus. Also, Gabi is a lesbian and lives with her partner. Apparently Vitoria is a very large gay community in Brazil. Maybe this would explain one reason why Vitoria is a much cleaner, safer oasis in Brazil.
When we got back to my house we bought some alcohol and went to the beach. I really enjoy the no open container law, but I still have the habit of looking over my shoulder everytime we drink in public. I just doesn't feel right but it is so nice. I ordered a pastel (deep friend shell with cheese and chicken inside) from a local padaria and then took it to where Amanda and Nicole had ordered food on the beach. This is so weird for me. You can eat other food and mix drinks at a restaurant where your friends are eating. In America you pretty much have to order something just to sit down.
After dinner we walked out to the "pedra" or rock which is a peninsula out into the water. I really like this place because you can watch the huge container ships go into the Vitoria port, star at the stars, and people watch the fisherman. The only thing that could make it better is if there was less light pollution and you could see the stars more clearly. I really miss being able to drive out into the country and star at the stars. I guess I'll just make up for it in Yellowstone!
We walked back around 2:00 and of course it started to rain. It actually felt really good but we got soaked. All in all, pretty great day.
Today was my cleaning day. I cleaned my bathroom, room, and washed my clothes. It has taken me a while to convince my mother into letting me do these menial tasks, but I think she understands that I want to do them for myself. After eating lunch I went to the beach to find Amanda and her bodyboarding buddies. I finished up my required reading on the beach and I am trying to get it done early so that I can focus on my Portuguese and read some of the books that I brought with me. We hung out of the beach till about 3 and then I went for my longest run yet at 4. I really enjoy running because it gives me time to think (in English) and get away from Portuguese for awhile. Normally I do not exercise this much because I do not have time and I just get bored with it. Now I look forward to exercising every day and feel really crappy if I don't. However, I think I am running a little too much on the sidewalk next to the beach because my knees are starting to hurt sometimes at night, guess I'll just have to run in the sand.
After returning from my run, I wanted to go to the movies for a little American entertainment. Nicole, Amanda, and I walked to the Shopping center in Vila Velha and caught a the Valentine's Day movie at 9:30. I made the mistake of going to a mall with two girls so we pretty much caught the last movie of the night once they were done window shopping. The movie was pretty good but I couldn't stop thinking about two things the whole time. First, the movie of course made me miss Laurel horribly. I go through really hard times everyday with missing Laurel, my family, my friend, and America; but then I just put it out of my mind and it usually passes quickly. The massive influx of spoken-English into my life distracted me from this during the movie, but it hit me hard after the movie. Second, I felt somewhat bad for taking Amanda to an all-English movie and sympathized for her for having to hear straight English for 2 hours. The movie had Portuguese subtitles and the movie theater was packed with Brazilians, but still I felt very egocentric watching a English movie (even though all the movies here are total English movies). I wonder if my family ever feels like this? I know that I feel really bad when I am speaking English to Nicole while around Amanda or my family because I feel like I am keeping them in the dark. I don't think that my family, co-workers feel the same way. A lot of times they don't even slow their speech down while around me. I guess I have to take this in context that this is their country and I am a foreigner, but still I wonder if they have the same feelings.
After the movie we walked back to the house and my dad and I drank out on the driveway. I really enjoy talking with him and I like how he tries to use the little English that he knows. He thinks that we can learn from each other since I need Portuguese and he needs English for his job. We talked for a really long time and I found a lot of new things out about his family and his past. It was 3:00 by the time I got to bed, and I was planning on trying to catch up on sleep this weekend!
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.
I was actually able to sleep in today till 9, but I quickly found that this was a mistake. I had about 20 minutes to eat, shower, and pack. Once again it was the "Get there fast, but then take it slow" mentality. We quickly left for the bus station, but then my uncle decided that he wanted to drive us all the way back to Vila Velha.
After returning, I had to catch up on all the blogs that I didn't do at the sitio (one reason that my writing has been crappy). While I did this work in my room, my family slept the rest of the day. It kinda funny how they go away to rest and relax and end up partying too much and sleeping when they return. I guess Carnaval is not really a time to rest and relax as much as they say it is. Its more of a time to party before Catholics abstain from carne and cerveja.
I don't think I have expressed yet how much these people sleep. They do it like its their job. No wonder they look young into their fifties, they for probably half of their life! Rodrigo and Amanda are teenagers so they sleep almost all day. While at the sitio I wouldn't see Rodrigo until about 3 every day and he would still be able to go to bed before everyone else! Amanda goes surfing almost everyday at about 7 in the morning, but then she returns at 12 and sleeps until 5 or 6. Then she goes to bed before me at about 11 every night. Ridiculous!
I didn't do much today except blog and read my book. It still is really hard for me to do homework here because of the noise level, but I am adjusting. Also, someone is always in my room talking or just staring at what I am doing on the computer. Pretty much no privacy, but I don't mind.
I took another long run and it was pretty hard after taking it easy during Carnaval. I am getting in better shape, but it is still really hard to run in this tropical humid air.
Tonight, Jardel, Arthur, and Nicole came to the house and we walked out on the beach. We tried to go buy chocolate, but the store closed just as we got there- 9PM. Everything except for the bars and some restaurants close down very early here. We walked to a nearby park and then back to the house. On the way home Amanda saw a dangerous man beside the road twice so we had to circle the block and walk in from the beach which has cameras throughout its length. She has been robbed twice, both times right in front of her house. I guess I would be a little paranoid as well. However, when she sees these "dangerous men" she screams and runs in the opposite direction. This is kinda opposite of what we do in America, we are taught to kinda remain calm and just avoid the area. I guess its just another way that vida brasileira is very different
Today was more of the same- total relaxation. I say this but chuckle at the same time. I can never really relax here. I am always trying to understand what people are saying or trying to talk to them in my broken Portuguese. Therefore, only if I am completely alone can I really relax. Today we stayed by the pool for the majority of the day. I was able to sleep inside last night on a couch that was about half my size, but I still got a good night's sleep so I didn't take a nap today. We played a few different games on the small field beside the pool which included the Brazilian equivalent of capture the flag and dodge ball.
One thing that I have noticed about my family is that they don't plan ahead much. We will be resting and eating one minute and then the next minute everyone is in a fury trying to leave. I has seen this on many occasions including our trip to the beach last night and our hike to the "Tatatuga" today. One minute everyone was in the pool and then the next everyone is yelling at each other to hurry up and leave. They have the "Get there fast, but then take it slow" mentality. Very different from my family back home, but both methods are equally stressful.
This night was the last of Carnaval so we kinda just relaxed outside under the stars. I had a really good, funny conversation with everyone and its this small victories that make me feel better about my Portuguese. At the end of the night we shot off fireworks (probably not a good idea since it is so dry here) and lit brillo pads on fire for homemade sparklers. Now that I look back on my Carnaval experience, it was kinda redneck.
Woke up again very early due to the fact that the sun made my tent an oven. After cafe, I went to the banana fields with Carlos and Andreza to harvest some bananas and other fruits. The first pic is of Carlos cutting a banana cluster from the tree. After cutting the bananas free, they cut down the tree so that the "son or daughter" can grow in its place. This seems counterproductive to me but I'm sure that they know what they are doing. The second picture is Carlos's daughter Andreza holding papayas that we got from one of his assorted fruit trees.
After this short hike, it was more relaxation. We chilled by the pool and I read my book for a majority of the day. I usually never take naps in the US, but here I have learned that I must get sleep any possible time. I took a nap by the pool for about an hour, but I was awoken by my family coming to party by the pool. The rest of the day consisted of eating by the pool and playing futebol.
At dusk we all went to a nearby beach. The water was very cold but I felt like I was back home. All the Brazilians thought I was crazy for liking to swim and even crazier for wanting to jump off the rocks. Eventually I talked them into jumping in which you can see in this picture. After returning to the sitio, Rodrigo, my dad, Carlos, and I went to downtown Guarapari to attend the Carnival parade. We walked along the beach and people watched for the next few hours. The people were going crazy in their outrageous Carnaval outfits. The downtown was so loud that it was difficult to understand Rodrigo when he was right next to me. I was able to meet a few of Rodrigo's friends and one of them spoke a little English. The fun thing about people who can speak English is that they stop speaking English as soon as they think I can speak Portuguese.
