Lt. John Dumb Bear

I slept in my tent last night and had a great night's sleep except for in the morning. It gets so hot here very early in the morning that it is impossible to sleep in. Since I am not on the ocean anymore, there is no breeze and all the vegetation makes the humidity unbearable. Therefore, I woke up this morning with a dip in the pool.

A lot of my time here in Brazil reminds me of the movie Dances with Wolves. Even though I am taking language classes, they are very easy and I feel that most of my communication is non-verbal. I purposely do not use my dictionary anymore because I find it fun to act out and try to guess what people are saying to me. I am starting to decipher more of the conversation and I certainly understand more than I can speak. Also, my name here is not Caleb, it is any version of the word besides "Caleb." Its kinda like Lt. John Dumb Bear (Dunbar) in the movie. My name is anything from Calebe to Calliba. This is especially true with my crazy aunt. My name changes every time she opens her mouth. She is 52 years old but acts like she is maybe 35. Every time she says anything (which of course I don't understand) the family just looks at me and says "doida" or "crazy." One thing that I did understand is that she wants me to go to Texas and find her a rich, young America. I told her that I would set her up with my doctor cousin Matt.

All day was filled with fun activities. We hiked the mountain overlooking the banana fields and sat by the pool (mom, I still have not gotten burnt here even though I don't think I wore a shirt the whole 4 days). While we were laying around the pool, some monkeys started yelling from the trees surround the pond. Apparently, they were mad at us for blocking their route to the fruit trees. I got some really great pictures of them and some were so close I could have touched them ( I thought this might be dangerous but my family was egging me on.... however, they stood really far away and acted very scared of the monkeys). Also, they make great fruits drinks here. I had really acai berry juice (pretty nasty, tasted really "green" but I told myself it was healthy) and many other fresh juices. We also went "fishing" which consisted of my uncle netting them as seen in the picture. I caught a small fish with one of their poles and they looked at me like a miracle worker. We had the fish for dinner in the traditional food of Espirito Santo- Moceqa.

Tonight was Junior's birthday and so we threw him a Flamingo party (one of the futebol teams from Rio). Half of the family is Flamingo fans and the other half is Fluminense (rival team) so it became a heated discussion and I learned several new descriptive words.

Today is Valentine's day and I really missed Laurel. Since I was at the sitio I didn't have internet so I couldn't even talk to her. I feel like a bad boyfriend and it is these kind of things that make me sad about being here. However, it is a good thing that I was at the sitio because the activities took my mind off of Laurel. Also, it doesn't feel like Valentine's Day here. They don't celebrate it, there is no snow, and I can't stop sweating. It just doesn't feel right.

One thing I noticed today was that I have no privacy. For example, as I was writing in my journal today, two family members came up and looked over my shoulder. While I am working in my room or reading for school, my family members feel comfortable with distracting me for thirty minutes at a time. I am having to be very forward sometimes and just tell them that I need to be alone to work, but I feel very bad doing this. I guess this is just a cultural difference and Brazil has less social boundaries than the US.

The Sitio

We caught the bus at 9 outside the house for Guarapari. The bus was really crowded and I either had the option of standing while pressed up against four other people or sitting on the gearshift- I chose to stand the entire 40 minutes.

We got off the bus in the middle of nowhere and just started walking. I typically have no idea what we are doing, so I just go with the flow. The language barrier always keeps everything a mystery and I kinda like it because I have no responsibility. We eventually reached a roadside stand and waited for Carlos (my uncle) to pick us up. We drove for about 30 minutes and stopped by a farm to pick up some cashaca (sugar cane liquor). The picture is of a tank of aged cashaca that was made from the sugar cane on the farm. This is essentially their neighborhood liquor outlet. We drove past some eucalyptus trees that are used for paper fiber and I got to feel real latex (smells absolutely horrible and is hard to wash the smell off) as it dripped from rubber trees.

When we arrived at Carlos's sitio, it was overwhelming. There was about 20 family members there and I was meeting most of them for the first time. Anyways, this place is beautiful. If it were in America, it would be a state or national park. The large rock outcropping on top of the mountain is called "Tartaruga" or Turtle Mountain (not sure if you can see but it looks like a sea turtle). Below the mountain is Carlos's Banana Plantation and house. Surrounding the house are fruit trees with every fruit imaginable. My favorites were a tree with fruit similar to blackberries or the starfruit trees.

As soon as we arrived, the beer started flowing. The party started around 10:30 and keep going till about 2 in the morning. They drink beer here from cups and share a liter glass bottle. It is much different from the US but keeps people drinking because they refill your glass every sec and you have to drink it before it gets warm. I guess its a kind of tropical drinking game.

The entire day consisted of talking (or rather yelling, they people could have gotten a noise complaint and we were in the middle of nowhere), sitting by the pool, eating copious amounts of meat, and relaxing. They also have a sauna here which I find very strange. I have never stopped sweating while I have been here and they find it necessary to sweat even more. The ambient temperature already feels like a sauna to me, so this was just ridiculous. At night we celebrated Carnaval and watched it on the TV. The TV censorship here is essentially non-existent.

Before we went to bed, the whole family took a walk and looked at the stars. It was a very relaxing ending to a day in paradise.

Take it Easy

This morning I didn't do much except blog and catch up on some emails. It was really nice to have some time without anything on my schedule. At about 3 I walked an hour to central Vila Velha to get withdraw some money from the ATM. It took about an hour and I walked along the beach most of the way. This gave me time to think and to take some pictures along the way. I thought a lot about what I am missing by being here: Laurel, the birth of Adeline, the fam, friends, parties, snow, etc. On the other hand, I thought about all the new unique experiences I am having here: Carnaval, new launguage, different people, beautiful location, the beach, volunteering with kids, etc. Before I left, Laurel and I weighed the pros and cons and we determined that the balance in favor of Brazil. When I first arrived here, I thought I had made a mistake in coming. Now, I know that this is where I am supposed to be. Everything about this trip has been different and has stretched me in new ways, but I am learning more here than I could ever learn in a classroom at WVU. This has been true in many aspects of this trip. For example, I am very quiet here because I am not yet confident in speaking the language. At home, I rarely stop talking. This "vow of silence" has been very different but has taught me a lot about myself and about others (especially in their body language or non-verbal comm). Another way that this trip has been beneficial is that I am getting a lot of exercise and I am not under my normal level of stress. I feel more healthy now than I have since freshman year.

During my walk, I had time to take a few photos. The first one is on the small fishing community I was talking about in a previous blog. You can't see very well, but I think these fishermen look like modern day pirates (I was a little apprehensive about taking a picture up close). The second picture is of the coastline of central Vila Velha taking from the shade of a coconut tree on the beach. The buildings you see in the background are not hotels like on a beach in America, but they are all apartment buildings. I suppose Vila Velha/Vitoria is not a large tourism location but more of a business city.

The third photo is an accident that I witnessed happen while walking the beach. I'm not sure but I have a feeling this was a teenage driver. Then again, all drivers in Brazil are crazy! I really mean it when I say that there are not many traffic laws here and not many people obey them. The drivers here are crazier than anywhere I have seen in the States, Europe, or Africa. The fourth picture is of a "quioseque" or beach bar. These are strewn all up and down the beach. They are usually busy and my family frequents them every Saturday and Sunday.

After returning to my house, I ate and listened in on my families conversation. For me to understand what is going on, I have to really concentrate, and even then I only get the gist of the conversation. Most of the time I just listen, and when they slow their speech down, I know that they are addressing me. I have been trying to understand their accent and I have come to two conclusions. First, whoever came up with this language had a cold at the time. Many of the words are not intelligible unless you end the word in a nasal "ou." It is very difficult for me and apparently very hard for them to understand if it is not used. Second, everyone in Brazil has something in their mouth while they talk. They talk like they have a gobstopper in their mouth and there are not many hard consonants. This is especially fun for me when they say English brand names or sing English music (which I found that they know more of than I do). For example, the brand "Rip Curl" sounds exactly like "Hip Cool"

After I ate, I went for another long run and then came back and ate some more. We went to Nicole's house but she wasn't there. So I had to fill in as the American and I talked with Arthur (sounds like "Octu") and Jardel for a few hours. We talked a lot about American music (hippy hoppy) and they knew all of these artists from back when I was ten. Apparently, older American music is still popular here because they thought that Ja Rule and Tupac were the greatest rappers ever. Very funny conversation..

I'm an uncle!... I hate kids

Weird title, but don't take it at face value. I'll explain.

Today was another early day at CADEC and I don't think that either Nicole or I were prepared for it. After breakfast Nicole and I were taken into separate rooms and given about 12 students each. At first, Aderlandia (very hard to pronounce and is pretty embarrassing when you can't even say your co-workers name) was with me, but then she just left! I was stuck in a room with 12 8-year olds with special needs and attitude problems (most of these children have a bad home life or they are getting in too much trouble at the regular school)! It is hard enough to manage a roomful of children when you speak their same language, just imagine if you can't even communicate! Also, remember that even the children here drink coffee with tons of sugar every morning- they are wired! This probably the longest 4 hours of my life. Every time I would turn around they would be doing something to each other, playing with the light switches, dancing, trying to escape, hiding under tables, hitting each other, and always yelling. Also, I had a TV in my room was probably turned off and on about 200 times in 4 hours. Additionally, Nicole had a child that was making too much trouble in her room, so she gives him to me! This just compounded the problem. Eventually I figured out that these children are like me and just need something to do in order to stay out of trouble. I got some play-dough out and we made animals,etc. This was a great idea and a horrible idea. It kept them busy but in about 3 minutes the play dough was everywhere. I mean everywhere: floor, table, their noses, inside the TV, out the window, and even smeared on the ceiling (still not sure how they managed this). The other part of my plan was to teach them the English name of the animal, and this way I could learn the Portuguese version as well. This was a pretty good idea, but it got so loud! They would not sit down and for the next hour I had kids saying "aqui" or "here" to me. They all wanted to teach me and learn English. No matter how many times I said sit down, they would just climb all over me (the weight of about 3 of these kids on you shoulders feel about the same as the weight of a small car). Finally, Aderlondia came back and we prayed before lunch. I was so relieved. According to the staff I had done a very good job controlling my room. I would hate to see a bad job! (*I may be dramatizing this account slightly, but it is not far from the truth)



This experience was so mentally and physically tiring. After Carnaval the actual school starts and I will be more of a teacher aide and English teacher. I'm pretty sure that neither Nicole or I could repeat what we did today for very long. Aunt Marianne, I don't know how you do it!

I had a reflection today on the events at the school... I used to be one of these kids. In grade school and junior high, I was the kid that made the teacher cry and want to give up teaching. Is this retribution for my sins? If so, I hope the sentence is quick and painless! My dad always told me to wait till I had a kid of my own so that I would know what it would be like to have a son like me. Well dad, I guess I know now!


Don't let the picture fool you. These kids are not as innocent as they look. They are essentially hardened criminals that take pleasure in tearing down my confidence. Just kidding, I kinda miss them already. They are so starved for attention and make me feel really good when they call me "Tio Calebe" or "Uncle Caleb," which leads me to my next point- I'm an Uncle today!!!!!!

Josh(bro) and Heather(sis in law) had their first child today. Little Adeline Elizabeth King was born today and was 8lbs. 9oz and 19inches long ( I feel like I am bragging and describing a monster trophy fish). I can't wait to meet here, but I guess I will have to wait till May (unless my bro finally figures out Skype). I really can't wait to teach her and spoil her! You know, do the typical uncle stuff like get them wired on candy and Coke and them send them home. However, the best part about being an uncle is that I'm not the baby of the family anymore!!!!

After volunteering, I finished up my Order of Augusta App and then left for UFES at 2:45. After 2 hours of riding the bus, Nicole and I finally reached our class (about 30 minutes late!). The sad part is that this is probably the fastest route and we will just have to leave earlier.

The class was pretty good, but I am lost in the intensive class (just me, Nicole, and Glauciane) and I am bored in the Basic class. All the people in the Basic class speak some English but are from around the world. Garry is my favorite. He is from London and has type of rock star British accent. He is here with his Brazilian girlfriend to teach English.

The bus ride home is much more direct and only took us about 40 minutes to go from Vitoria to Vila Velha. I always walk Nicole home and then go back to my house (5 big blocks away). I stopped at a supermercado and picked up a few beers and drank them on the way home. I love the no open container law, but it takes away from the fun of drinking in public in Morgantown. By the way, I really miss going to parties with all my friends. Guess we'll just have to make up for it when I get back!

After dinner Nicole, Amanda, and I went to a beach restaurant/ beach bar. These "quiosque" are every 20 feet up and down the beach and are all about the same. The are usually busy all the time. Here's a picture of my family at one last weekend. Amanda and Gabi were mad that there were no pictures of them on my blog.



We talked til about 2 and then I walked Amanda home, then walked Nicole home, then walked back to my house. Late night, but I had to celebrate the birth of little Adeline correctly!

Language Barrier

I got to sleep in late today since I only had to volunteer from 12 to 4 a CADEC. I was able to work on my Order of Augusta App from 8-11 and got quite a bit done. It is very hard to work efficient here since there are many distractions (mainly Junior) and the internet is very slow. I try close my door but that does not impede Junior and I cook in my room with my door closed. They eat 4 meals a day here and many snacks in between. I feel that my mother asks me to eat again after I just finished a meal. Anyways, I am getting acclimated to the melody of Brazil and the construction that continues constantly outside my window.

I spent most of my time at CADEC fixing the plumbing of the outside drinking faucet. I think the ladies have caught on that I enjoy outside jobs and so they give me the repair jobs to keep me busy. I wasn't able to fix the faucet since I need a small plastic adapter. Apparently this will be pretty hard to get in Brazil. This is another area that consumes much of Brazilians time and energy. There are only local stores in each neighborhood, but they must be quite incomplete.

When I got home, my mom and her sister (Katie, pronounced very differently than in English) were doing their hair getting ready for another sister's formatuda (graduation). I really like Katie and the best way to describe her is "Cougar (she is probably 40, but unmarried)." She jokingly flirts with me and thinks it is hilarious that I can't understand her.

One thing that is really starting to wear on me at my house is how loud it is 24/7. I think everyone in my family is deaf. Not kidding. They crank the TV, radio, and their own voices to the point that you have to yell to be heard. I guess it is part of the culture, but I don't know how they live like this. My mother is a very expressive women and doesn't really know how to talk to her children, but just yell. Even if she is not mad at all, they all yell at each other from different parts of the house. Junior is definitely the loudest. He has two levels: yelling at the top of his lungs, and whispering after I tell him to be quieter. He is not misbehaved at all (except for the occasionally biting or slapping his sisters) but he is so LOUD and this must be acceptable because his parents never tell him to speak softer.

I went for a run with Amanda around 7 and I ran the farthest and longest I have yet. I made it all the way to a small island (ihla) and back without stopping. I think this is around 7-9 miles (I'm really bad with estimation). When I first arrived here, I found it very hard to run while breathing the salty mist from the crashing waves, but now I crave the smell and sights of the beach while running. I run past a small fishing community during my run that is filled with people buying and selling fish. I really need to take my camera one day because it is hard to describe the sight and even a photo would be incomplete because it doesn't include the pungent smell of fresh seafood. These fishermen live right across the street in small shacks which look very out of place because they are surrounded by city and high-rise apartment buildings. Daniel told me that people have offered the fishermen money for their property, but they won't budge. I reminds me of "Daddy won't sell the farm" back home. The characters that live in this fishing community are very stereotypical looking. They are typically drunk by the time I take my daily run, the whole area smells like a bar and seafood. I usually have to dodge one of these fishermen on the sidewalk because they stumble across the road without caring to look for oncoming people or car traffic. They are very tan and you can see that the years of hard work and hard living have taken their toll. They are very loud and scare me a little because they usually are brandishing a rusty fillet knife when talking to others. I really find these people to be bigger than life characters. Also, they don't lock up their boats or nets but just line them up on the beach. I not really sure why anyone doesn't steal them or why they are allowed to do this, but it makes a very picturesque beach scene.



These pictures really have nothing to do with my day, but I took them while riding the bus to my Portuguese classes at UFES. You can see the Catholic convent or "Convento da Penha" on the hill. I will visit this later with Daniel. Apparently it is really beautiful and they have monkeys! If you look up Vila Velha on Wiki this is probably what it will show. The bridge is called "terceira ponte" or the third bridge. There is also a second bridge or "segunda ponte" but no one is really sure where the first bridge is. I find this really funny. The second picture is looking towards Vitoria which is the capital of Espirito Santo and is actually an island. It is the biggest port in South America!



Amanda waited for me to return for about an hour and I'm not really sure why. I offered to let her take my keys but she wanted to wait on the beach after her short run. Maybe she needs a break from her loud house too!

The cars here are mostly all the same. We don't have them in America but they are just same hatchback Fords, VWs, etc. There are some trucks but none as nice as sexy suzy (the name for my toyota tacoma back home). I have seen a few nice cars, mainly of executives at the Garoto factory, but these are very few and far between. However, on the way back to the house, a Ferrari went ripping past Amanda and I. I'm sure that you see this a lot in Sao Paulo and Rio but it was a huge jump in pricetag for here.

During dinner and after dinner I talked to my family about where I am from. They are not very familiar with the states, so I had to show them a map. I also showed them the picture of snow at Laurel's house and they couldn't believe it. For about ten minutes they asked me questions about the picture and they wanted to know what was under the snow. I told them porch or "veranda." They weren't happy with these answer and acted with they didn't believe me. Then I said they were chairs and a table under the snow and they burst out laughing. I still haven't figured this one out. They kept pointing at the table and asking what was under and I replied " A mesa" and they were rolling on the floor. My mom was actually crying. I'm glad that I give them entertainment. Its pretty much my purpose while in the house.

I "talked" (its not really talking when you just try to figure out what each other are trying to say the whole time) with Amanda some more. I want to tell her that I have so much more to tell her but I don't know how, only problem is that I don't know how to tell her that I have so much more to tell her. Its a vicious circle.

Independence

Today was an early day at CADEC, so I woke up at 6:30. There were 27 kids at CADEC today and I think all of them drank a pot of coffee before they came. This is one of the most tiring jobs I have ever done. Not only are all the kids screaming above each other to be heard, I can't understand what they are saying! I really was dragging by about 10:30 and resorted to sitting down with some of the boys and just trying to talk. We had tried to teach them American games to play earl (duck duck goose, wheelbarrow race, etc) but they cheat at whatever we do. It really is hard to explain something when everyone is talking, and even harder when you don't know the language.

After lunch we had class with Jaime and Daniel at the clinic. I really look forward to our class discussions and I think this has become the highlight of my normal day. The first picture is of me and Jaime after class. We talked about a variety of subjects, but there are a few that I found very interesting. From what I gathered from our lecture today, education is one of the keys to Brazil's success in the future. The students here only go to school for 4 hours per day and many don't go or finish college. This reminded me a lot of our class sessions in Africa because it appears that both developing countries need education before anything else. This conversation made me very proud of my girlfriend and members of my family for choosing to work in education. It is such a great calling and is in such high demand. Other facts about the education here is that it is not a liberal arts education but more professional. For example, you can become a doctor here in 5 years total because the courses are focused on only medicine. This sounds great to me, but I can't imagine where I would be if not for my liberal arts education. I certainly would not be in Brazil!

Of the few who have attended higher education, most fall into the Brain Drain. I was amazed to find that there are 300,000 illegal aliens Brazilians living in America today. These 300,000 illegal aliens is the 2nd largest group only to Mexicans. Most of these people are not manual laborers but rather are using their degrees to attain highly paid jobs. For example, a medical doctor here is only allowed to work a 20 hour week at one place. For these 20 hours they are paid ~$2,500 BR per month. Usually they pick up 3 of these positions at hospitals which brings there income total to ~$7,500 BR per month. This is only equal to about $4,000 USD! Why wouldn't you come to America! (Actually I did find one reason- In Brazil there is no such thing as medical malpractice but is rather attributed to "an act of God")

After class Daniel and Geli took us to UFES. They dropped us off and then we were on our own. After 3.5 hours of class, we had to figure out our way home. Thankfully I spotted a very crowded bus that took us right past our house and bypassed an extra terminal. The bus drivers here are really crazy and I now know why there are not a lot of amusement parks in Brazil- Ride a bus!

The classes at UFES have been very helpful and I am doing better when trying to pronounce things while reading. It is when I must string a sentence together in my head that I have a lot of trouble.

After I walked Nicole home, I walked back to my place. It was actually pretty scary and I don't think I will take a bag to UFES next time. I could feel eyes on me almost all the way home. Once I got home, the house was dark. I had forgotten that my family was going to an aunt's graduation. The second picture is what I had for dinner and is pretty typical here. The rice and beans are a staple of EVERY meal and the fish here is very fresh. The third picture is of my frig. As you can see there is not much to eat around the house, especially now that I am here.

My change of nationality

I am really enjoying the subject material of my International Organizations class. Daniel is very knowledgeable and its great to only have two students in the entire class. Our class time consists of more conversation than just dry facts and figures.

After class, I volunteered at CADEC from 12 - 4. I am getting better at understanding the gist of conversations, but it requires so much concentration that sometimes my head hurts. I don't know if I have ever had to work so hard to understand something in my life. I have come to find that I am completely a visual learner and I really have trouble with audio learner. It literally goes in one ear and out the other.

I have found my project at CADEC. Because of my limited language skills, I have resorted to manual labor that needs to be done around CADEC. As aforementioned in my blog, I have pulled all the weeds and now I am working on laying more brick on the outside patio area. You can see the incomplete patio at the bottom of the picture. I have been working on this project for about 6 hours now and the workers are very happy with the progress but don't understand why I want to work in the 90 - 100F heat. I started thinking about this today (I do a lot of thinking while working because it is one of my only quiet times throughout the day). At the risk of sounding racist, I think I prefer manual labor for some of the same reasons that Mexicans in America prefer manual labor. Sure they might have other reasons, but Mexicans may prefer manual labor because of their language barrier. It doesn't require much vocabulary to tell someone to move this or clean that. Most instruction can be completed through non-verbal acting gestures and pointing. I guess I never thought that some of the Mexicans toiling in our country could be very intelligent people that choose manual labor because it is the only thing they know how to do in a foreign land. I will certainly look upon all foreign workers in a new light from now on.

After work, I came home and did even more homework. This study abroad experience is slowly turning into as much work as getting a Biology degree (all things considered). I went running with Jardel, Amanda, Gabi, and Oktu for about an hour and then returned home for dinner. I gotta get some more sleep, up tomorrow at 6:30!