I was planning on going to the beach today with Amanda and her surfer friends, but I forgot that I had already told the doctor at the clinic, Sandro, that I would go on a hike with him in the mountains. Just as I was about to leave, he called me and so I waited at the house and got all my homework for tomorrow done. At about 12, Sandro and his wife, Tatiane, picked me up at my house and we headed north from Vitoria into Vianna. Sandro's father and family own much of the country in this direction of the city and we stopped by one of his fathers's cow ranches where they were just about to slaughter some cows. I asked if they shot the cows to kill them, but I forgot that Amanda had told me that you can't have guns in Brazil. Apparently they cut the whole head off and string them upside down... yummy.
We crossed Rio Jucu (named after Indians in this region) and into Domingos Martins. This area was settled by the Germans and Swiss which is evident by the architecture. In the words of Daniel, "They are waiting for the snow." We ate at a really great restaurant and I had my first taste of Minero food (food from the state of Mineas Gerias). The food here is pretty fatty, but they just consume a lot smaller quantities. Apparently, Sandro and Tatiane think that almost all Americans are really fat and thought that I was some kind of an exception. I tried to explain to them that America has a lot of fat people (especially my state) but that you can't make a generalization like this. Once again, the language barrier was very interesting.
We met the dentist from the clinic, Carla, and her husband Sandro at the restaurant and then toured the small town after the torrent of rain passed. The town is almost like a slice of Germany, but looks very out of place when you consider the geography and climate. After leaving the town, we slowly made our way back out of the mountains into Campo Grande where I met Tatiane's mother. She, like all Brazilians, is still crazy in her old age. We toured the port and Sandro showed me around most of Vitoria downtown. I really like Vitoria and I hope to come over here for the weekend and stay in their apartment. He showed me the nicer neighborhoods in Vitoria and it almost looks something like Florida. After this we stopped by his apartment to pick up his dog (Laurel, you will appreciate this, his dog is a pug and its name sounds like A Breezy), and then they dropped me off at my house. It was a full day but I really enjoyed it. Also, I was able to talk to Mom, Dad, Josh, Adeline, Laurel, and Caleb tonight on the internet. Caleb is going to try to come with us to Rio in two weekends since he can fly here for only $50.
I tried to sleep in as late as possible today in order to get over my cold, but it is hard to get quality sleep in my house. The blinds are really helping but they kinda make my room hotter and I can't sleep already because its really hot. Its a lose, lose situation. Anyways, I tried to sleep in till 2 but I really didn't do much sleeping. I got up around 2 and did some work and then celebrated my sister Gabi's birthday. Most of the fam was there including Sorria, Rodrigo, and Leo from Guarapari (they own the sitio I went to for Carnaval).
After the birthday party, I did some work, or should I say I waited on my internet. My internet here is really horrible and disconnects whenever it wants. I told them that I would pay for better internet so we are going to get it installed next week sometime.
At 6 we took all the kids to the mall and I hung out with Rodrigo and Leo. It was our mission to find a Flamingo jersey for me. Flamingo is the team from Rio de Janeiro that my family likes and watches all the games. Its kinda like the Steelers for my family back home. My mom and dad are both from Rio originally so they are called "cariocas" and have a reputation of being very friendly, open, and loud. They certainly live up to their rep in all areas. We finally found a jersey for me and it cost about $50. Its a lot, but my dad seriously talks to me everyday about it. I think he wants me to buy one so he can show his buddies that I'm a Fla fan. While shopping, I awkwardly asked Rodrigo and Leo about what stores had the best prices. They said that it really doesn't matter because the same models in different stores have the same price. The only reason to go to different stores is to see if they have different models. I told them that this took away competition and they shrugged and said yes. I don't really understand this, but of course I might not have been understanding them.
After the mall, we went to a Chinese restaurant for Gabi's birthday and then Nicole Amanda and I took a walk to the park. I made the mistake of drinking Coke and the restaurant and Guarana at the park, so I couldn't go to sleep for a long time. Also maybe the fact that I slept all day had something to do with it!
I woke up pretty late today because my dad installed curtains in my room and its actually kinda dark now, also I am getting pretty accustomed to sleeping with a lot of light. I still have a sore throat and I don't really understand how I got sick in a tropical climate.
It rained all night here and Amanda was complaining that she had to go to school today (she skipped last Friday because Nicole wanted her hair straightened.). I joked with her about having a rain day similar to us having a snow day in the US. I guess I didn't really understand. I have seen some flooding in the streets here but nothing major. The infrastructure here is absolutely horrible and the sewers just can't handle the mass influx of water. The picture below doesn't really do it justice. This essentially cripples the city and traffic turns into a nightmare. When Amanda returned from school she was upset with her mom because they only had two professors and only 15 students in the whole school (usually they have over a thousand!)
Later in the day I walked to Central Vila Velha to get some more money and made the mistake of taking a new way and not walking along the beach. I wanted to explore the city more, but I picked the wrong day to do so. I had to take so many detours because I literally could not walk down the street. It was crazy. Also the water is backed up from the sewers which are open and contain human waste, garbage, oil, etc; so I tried not to wade through anything. I got lost maybe three times, but I guess this is the best way to learn a city. I walked for about 5 hours and went to the bank and then to the mall and bought 50 more Reals of cell credit. On the way home I got pretty fed up with myself because I couldn't even figure out how to enter the credits into my cell phone. It turned out that I wasn't including an asterisk but it made me feel a little better when it took two of my family members to figure it out.
At about 9 Nicole called me to go to a club called Barr Acustico in Barra do Jucu (close to the clinic). Karla and her husband Sandro picked me up and we met all of the other workers from the clinic there. It was really cool and the cover band sang almost all English songs but of course in a distorted accent. I got to socialize with the people from the clinic and they are all very nice genuine people. However, I didn't really understand much of what they were saying because I find it hard enough to understand people speaking English in a club, its almost impossible to understand Portuguese! I just kinda keep up with the body language and do my "smile and nod" routine.
I had a really hard time getting out of bed this morning because my throat is really inflamed. My tonsils and pretty red and I think I'm going to have to sleep a lot this weekend (I have to finish up the publication as well).
My job at CADEC today was math teacher. I really like this because the kids were surprising well behaved and this was something that I could not look stupid doing. We did very simple math problems and as always there were a few kids that breezed through it and then other kids that thought this little bit of work was gonna kill them. I helped for a couple hours and just walked around the room checking their work and helping them. They were have a pretty rough time with subtraction and addition so I taught how to use their fingers or tally marks on a piece of paper to count the answer. I didn't realize till after they were gone that these were 8-9 year-olds that couldn't figure out simple math problems. Hopefully I'll get to work more with them in math because this is something that I actually have utility in.
Nicole went to a concert in Vitoria last night and never went to sleep, so she stayed home while I went to the Portuguese lesson at UFES today. The first lesson was only with me and Glau and I was a little nervous that it would be hard to communicate without Nicole but surprising it wasn't. Glau usually speaks very slowly and I can understand her pretty well.
There were a few new people in the second class today and one guy is actually moving close to where I live. He name is Grant and he's from FL. He has a chem engineering degree from FU and has been working for Schlumberger in Alaska (told him about my Papa working in the oil field and he was really interested). He going to law school next year so he kinda taking it easy like me before he has to start up school again.
The second class was pretty good, but it drags on. I finally got home at about 9:30 and I was starving. I ate and then met my dad at the bar on the corner. I usually don't drink when I go with him because I don't really like drinking when I have to concentrate on speaking so much. Nicole passed the bar on the way back from her date (met some guy at the concert) and we finally got back to my house at 1. I told myself that I was only going to the bar to appease my dad, but it is literally impossible to escape because everyone makes a big deal about trying to leave.
The picture below is of my blind cat Pandora. It can sleep with its eyes open ( I guess since it is blind) and apparently likes to sleep in the most awkward positions possible.
I woke up really early today and was pretty miserable. My sore throat is getting worse and I think I have bed bugs. I'm still not sure if they are bed bugs or not, but I have been looking up the symptoms and it appears that I fit every symptom. I have bites covering my neck, arms, hands, and feet. They are in groups of three or more which corresponds to bed bugs "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" eating style. I have not seen any of the bugs though, but I also have seen very few mosquitoes and no spiders. I plan to spray my whole room with Raid soon to see if this will alleviate the problem.
Anyways, I thought that I had class this morning, but turns out that I'm crazy. I showed up at 10 and got to talk to Daniel about the bug bites and we both think that they are bed bugs. I decided to just wait around the clinic until 12 and do some homework while I waited, but the physician, Sandro, said that he could take a look at the bug bites for me. This was a really different experience from a clinic in the US. First they took me into a room and took my information. This was really entertaining because I knew what they were going to ask because of the form and because they were essentially taking a very brief patient history. The nurse Rafael (far left) was taking the history, but the doctor Sandro (standing) and the dentist (can't remember her name, maybe Carla?) were all present. The clinic was not busy today and Sandro was only seeing 4 patients all day. After the took my bp and pulse (I think they thought I was dead, my pulse was 50 and my bp was 111/62), they took my weight and height and entered it into a BMI slider calculator. As always I was in the obese category and they weighed me again to confirm this. I told them that I am usually in the overweight or obese category, but they still didn't believe me. After the paperwork, Sandro and I went to his office and listened to my heart and respiration. One thing that I noticed was different was that he listened to my respiration while I was laying down and listened to my chest instead of listening on my back while sitting up. Then he examined the bug bites and did so without gloves on. I thought this was really weird, but I suppose bug bites aren't exactly contagious or dangerous (then again I'm not sure if they are bug bites, could be an allergic reaction with hives). He prescribed hidroxizina (which is known as Hydroxyzine in the states, it is an anti-histamine) and dexametasona (topical cortisol, used for anti-inflammatory, used after surgery to reduce edema, not sure he prescribed something 20x stronger than cortisol but maybe it is a very small dose). I struck up a friendship with Sandro and he wants to hang out more so we exchanged numbers. He lives in Vitoria so he wants me to come over and he said he could show me downtown Vitoria. Also, on Sunday we are going on a hike, I think. Still pretty confused about what people are asking me, but they are always very friendly. I got to eat at the clinic and the food was so good! I really like hanging out here (the people are super friendly, food is a lot better, and they have air conditioning!), so I think I am going to shadow Sandro on some of my free days.
I showed up to CADEC a little early and helped make lunch. Today I helped the art teacher in the classroom and pretty much just tried to keep order. I pretty much just held the marker container and passed them out to the kids. It is so hard to keep them in their seats, especially when they want markers. Also, most of the markers were dried up so they would just keep trying them and then putting them back and then try the same ones again.
At 5 Nicole and I left CADEC and she went to the store down the street to buy some clothes and I talked with the store owner. Everyone has a really interesting history and they always want to tell me about it. I tried to read the newspaper that Daniel gave me about the developments that are happening in Espirito Santo but it was pretty hard. They are spending 1 billion Reals (about 500 million USD!) in development. I went to the store and bought some Raid and I plan on spraying my room but I don't think my mom will like this.
Daniel picked us up at CADEC and we went to Banco Terra for their monthly meeting/ grand opening. It was supposed to start at about 6 but I think it started around 7:30. Even I would be on time for everything in Brazil! I try to understand what they are saying at these meetings but it is so hard to follow. However, I have decided that attending a meeting in Portuguese is more entertaining than in English because of a few reasons. First, I can completely tune out if I want to because I am not engaged in what the speaker is saying. Second, trying to understand the meeting in Portuguese keeps me more entertained than trying to listen in English. Third, Brazilians themselves are more entertaining to watch than Americans. There is not much order at these meetings and so it stays fresh.
We got back around 9:30 I think and I was starving. I gotta start buying and taking snacks with me everywhere I go. I went for a run again, but I don't take my iPod or anything besides my keys when I run late a night. Also, I witnessed a prostitute getting picked up on the corner by my house.... never know what you are going to see here!
Today I had CADEC at 8 in the morning and I was assigned kitchen duty. I prefer this over baby-sitting the kids but it is still a tough job. I usually start off with making breakfast and then dishing it out to the 30 or 40 kids. Today, I pretty much washed dishes for 4 hours straight. I tried to unclog the drain, but again I couldn't because I didn't have any tools. After cleaning up the mess I made on the floor (smelled absolutely horrible). I helped make the lunch with Gesane (shown in the picture above) and then we left around 1.
We had class with Daniel at his apartment at 2 and Jiame was there. Daniel had made tacos and it was the first "foreign to Brazil" food that I had eaten since I left the states. Afterwards, I went straight to UFES for my Portuguese lesson. I keep making the mistake of not eating enough before my class and so I am starving by the time I get home. I get home at about 9:30 and then eat dinner immediately. I tried to go for a run tonight, but I could only run for about 40 minutes. I have a sore throat and the rest of my family does too. They say that it is caused by the sudden onset of the rain, and at first I laughed at them. I guess they were right.
I had class at the clinic at 10 and learned about the structure of non profit organizations. We got into a really good discussion, and didn't leave for CADEC till 12:30. At the clinic I noticed something in the bathroom- the toilet. It was unlike any I had seen before and I think the Brazilians have solved one of the world's problems with it. They are really on to something with this. It has a cut-out in the front and a cut-out in the seat as well. This way men don't have to put the seat up and down everytime they use it. This is revolutionary. I have probably the equivalent of days of my life putting the seat up and down for women. Just think of what I could accomplish with that extra time.
CADEC was pretty uneventful today because school was cancelled for a meeting so only the kids with working parents were there. They watched Portuguese Scooby Doo (kinda like a Chinese dubbed movie because the lips don't match the words, pretty much the same with all of the English entertainment) for a couple hours and then I watched them play outside while I read my book.
Sirley scheduled a meeting for 3:00 but it was about 4:00 by the time it started. There is no such thing as on time here. The meeting was pretty boring for me cause I almost understood nothing, but the reason for the meeting was to hire paid teachers and for the volunteers to give feedback to CADEC about what they are doing and how the volunteers can help. Nicole stayed later than me but I returned home at 5 to do work.
I went for a normal run and then came back to work but it is very hard here with the slow internet and because of the person below. I am still trying to get my publication into review but I didn't have a big enough block of time to even start on it, so I studied some Portuguese with Rosetta Stone. I am learning a lot by doing out of class work, but I feel that I am learning words that I never use or never hear in day-to day. I hope this starts paying off soon. Also, it poured again tonight. After my first month of sun and extreme heat, now it is raining almost every night. Crazy weather.
