Ridiculous

Is it just me, or is Snow White tanner than I am?

Child at heart (and possibly of mind ;) )

Luiza is gone and I am alone in a world full of portuguese! :( Murilo's aunt came to visit today (she lives in Fortaleza and sometimes stays with her daughter in Brasilia, but is here for 9 days), and she is good at finding words that I know, so I hope she will be of help and I will be good company for her!

I'm trying to figure out what are the best ways to learn the language. I'm experimenting with movies, but is it best to watch in english with portuguese subtitles? Portuguese with english subtitles? Portuguese with portuguese subtitles? I vote for english with no subtitles, but that doesn't seem to help me learn portuguese very wel... I've rented a couple disney moves like Ice Age, Enchanted, and Bolt, and I do pretty well with those when it plays in portuguese with portuguese subtitles. However, when I watch the movies that I've never seen before like this, I have no idea what's going on.

I also have bought a couple "books" to read, but unfortunately the books that I can read don't help my child status in the apartment (Zairinha holds my hand when we cross the street...). 4 of the 5 books I've bought are little paper pamphlets that tell the Disney princess stories. Entertaining, possible to read, and highly intellectual. The other one is a comic book of the character Monica - apparently she is everywhere here, and by everywhere I mean there are some scary and giant children's dolls of her. Today Mariana (Murilo's aunt) read me Branca de Neve (Snow White). I wrapped up in a blanket, she poured me a glass of chocolate milk, put her arm around me, and we had story time. (well, most of that is true, anyway).

Although I don't feel like I can speak in Portuguese any better, I do feel like I can understand a whole lot better. So mark that as the first step in learning a new language: understanding.

Alright, I have to go. I'm petting Toby and I think he's purring. We may have (another) problem.

Boa final de semana, meninos!

PS tomorrow we're going to the beach and Kelson has promised to take me out in his "boat." Let the adventures begin!!! Stay tuned... there has got to be a reason no one else volunteered for this amazing boat ride...

We're communicating!

So I've decided to try to do something new every day. This project (Operation suck-it-up-and-just-do-it-and-see-what-happens-but-bring-your-mace) commenced on Tuesday. Tuesday I went to the gym by myself (I figured I'd start out slow). There was a new girl at the front desk who I'd never seen before, so I said, for the first of many... many... times "I'm sorry, I'm american and don't speak portuguese very well." Cue the smile, and start nodding. It worked at the gym - the front desk lady was really nice, the class went well, and I made it home feeling triumphant and ready to try a bigger adventure... tomorrow...

So tomorrow (aka Wednesday/yesterday) I walked to the video store by myself. It is 9 blocks away with 2 turns, so Murilo thought it would be a good idea to write my name, address, and contact info on a piece of paper and put it in my pocket for emergencies. I thought: that's ridiculous, I'm not a child; I said: good idea, honey; then thought: that's actually not a bad idea. So I wrote the info on a paper towel and tucked it in my shorts (next to my mace) and off I went.

Encounter #1: I asked the front gate guy to write the address on my piece of paper towel (smile...nod...) and between what I said and what I wrote, he understood and wrote it down for me! My first success.

Encounter #2: As I was walking I passed a band of 6 or 7 girls who looked to be about 10 or 12 years old. As I passed, one of them looked like she jab stepped or tripped towards me (I chose to think she tripped). As I walked on by I felt something hit the back of my shorts, so I turned and saw PART OF A SANDWICH on the ground. The girl had thrown a SANDWICH at me! Really? REEEALY? I tried to come up with all possible reasons that a part of a sandwich would/could have become a flying projectile in my direction, but despite my creative gene, I came up blank. When I told Murilo he just said (in chorus, now), "These things only happen to you." Good heavens, let's try to be a little more creative in our hate crimes, shall we, people?

Encounter #3: I arrived at the video store, picked out my movies, and approached The Desk. The lady there said something to me to which I gave my usual apology for not speaking portuguese, smile, nod (I'm getting good at this), and she was so great! She smiled, spoke slowly, gestured wildly when she could see my confused glaze, and then gave me a Twilight popcorn bucket. Which, by the way, is the second Twilight popcorn bucket the movie store has now given me. Movie store: 100 points, Little girl thug gang: 0.

I was feeling so great after my redeeming video store/Twilight bucket encounter that I decided to go crazy and go to the supermarket. So Encounter #4 was a successful buying of groceries where the most difficult part was figuring out which bottle was shampoo and which was conditioner. And, luckily enough, the checkout guy didn't ask me any questions, so I was able to just smile and nod (and therefore blend in perfectly! mwahaha)

Today my adventure was walking to the beach (only three blocks, but I brought my paper towel identification card, none the less). I de-diapered Toby and off we went. We walked down the beach for quite a while. It's pretty un-populated directly in front of the apartment, but as we walked the beach became more populated with restaurants and people. The water was a gorgeous, sparkly blue today and the sun was out in full. Luckily I had remembered to wear sunscreen, and Toby with his curly black fur didn't mind - he was too preoccupied with all the trees calling to him (and he didn't disappoint ANY of them...) At our turn around point I talked myself into buying a coconut. I had to work up to it, practice all the words I might have to use in my head, pick out the right coconut seller, make an escape plan, and then I went for it. And low and behold, the guy sold me one! I was a little confused about how/when to pay, and he was a little confused that I wanted to sit on the wall right next to his stand and drink it, but he eventually walked away, so I figured I would just pay later. Then I had to think about how to get his attention and tell him I wanted to pay when I left (ah, so many details!) so I observed other people, and apparently you just make eye contact, lift your finger, and open your mouth a little bit like you're about to say something. I found out today that I was born to buy and pay for coconuts: the gesture worked flawlessly and the guy didn't even charge me the tourist price (Murilo later informed me that 2 reis is a good price for a coconut).

The final adventure for the day was putting Toby's diaper back on. Once I figured out where they were, it wasn't too hard - I think he likes it.

What adventures will I have this weekend, you ask? Well, Luiza is leaving for the weekend, so it will be my first time with no interpreter!!! I'm a little scared, so I think this will be adventure enough, but you never know - I'll keep you posted. Smile and nod, just smile and nod.

Sleep well, queridos!! (And good night, Murilo, I love you.)

Meet the Martins

This summer I'm living in the Brazil, in the state of Alagoas. I am in the city Maceió, which is the capital of Alagoas. I'm living with Murilo's family which consists of Kelson, his father, Zairinha, his mother, and Louisa, his younger sister. Murilo also has an older sister, Livia, but she lives in Fortaleza (in the state of Ceará), where Murilo grew up. When I asked about Livia's profession, they said she is busy working hard as a tourist. She is also (aka actually) an ecology and english teacher. Their first answer certainly rings true, however, as evidenced by her departure yesterday to Portugal where she plans to spend a month with her boyfriend and his family. (His parents live there)

I'm discovering little things about each of his family members as I spend time

here, which is half of the purpose for coming here for 2 months this summer. I'm sure this process is a little bit slower than usual because of my lack of portuguese ability, but it's a fun undertaking, none the less.

Kelson, I'm finding, loves to play tour guide. We have already

visited 5 restaurants and a gorgeous beach. The beach we visited he called paradise, and it certainly was close! He has no qualms about protecting that paradise. He laughed as he told me that the property owners along that beach (and he) spread the rumor that there are vicious sharks off this beach. Not true, but there weren't many people around, so maybe it worked.

When he's not discovering beaches or restaurants, he works at the hospital as an accountant (I think). He used to work for a Bank and has since retired (his claimed profession). He's very patient with me as I learn portuguese. He talks to me completely in the language and waits for me to identify words I don't know, then looks for another way to explain those words. I'm learning a lot of grammar from him. My favorite discovery about Kelson is that every time Maradona (Argentina's soccer coach) gives a mournful interview on TV, post-world cup loss, Kelson giggles a little bit. He's not as passionate about soccer (or anything else) as Murilo, but he still loves to see Argentina lose.

Zairinha is Murilo's mom, and works as a psychologist at the hospit

al. I think she works with trauma patients and others who are close to death - and you thought the wound nurses had a tough job, Catherine! ;) I understand her speech the least of the three, but her looks I understand the best. I know I am adjusting to the accent when I understand her, and we're getting really good at charad

es. She, also, displays a lot of patience for me as she has gone all over the city looking for ways that I can join in society (english schools, workout classes, craft classes, etc). We have started to work out together, and I just about died in class today. The first class was aerobics, and I learned to count to 10 (and back) really well. The second class was spinning (this is the one that almost killed me) and I understood 0% of what the instructor said. I did learn, however, how the volume of the instructor's voice related to what we were going to do next (I don't like loud). The third class was dance, which I did with Louisa, and I learned that some men can move their hips in incredible ways (tiny shudder). Zairinha is also the most attentive to helping me adjust socially here. No towels on the floor, cut your apple, don't peel the orange, etc. Pizza is eaten with a fork and knife, pop and beer is poured into a glass before drinking. Would you believe that they eat french fries with toothpicks? Really, that's my line in the sand. The one I didn't understand was the orange: the peel was tough, so I get not peeling it, but she cut the peel off for me and cut it in half, and I couldn't figure out for the life of me how to eat it. I ended up

with sticky all over my face and some up my nose, so I'm sure I didn't do it right. I'll have to observe before I attempt another one. How did I become bad at eating oranges?

Louisa is my ray of hope around here - she speaks english. (enough said?) She must either have immense amounts of patience or be able to hide her feelings well. She translates incessantly for me, and I learn word upon word from her each day. She just finished college and is working as a nutritionist at the hospital. I hope we can become great friends (if I don't use up all of her patience first). She is also the official diper-er of Toby (the dog). Like I said, filled with love and patience. Except when it comes to driving. We walk slow here, eat slow, but t

he women drive with a vengeance. Each time we hit a corner I expect someone to pull the emergency break and drift the corner, but to date it hasn't happened. The breaks I've learned, however, work really well.

The most fun part, however, is learning where Murilo's habits come from. Ice cream at night? Family. Love of popcorn? Family. Driving fast? (just kidding, Ma) Family. 2 showers a day? That would be Brazil's humidity. (yes, Muri, you would be so proud: I shower 2ce a day here ;) )

Alright, it's midnight aka almost bedtime. Sleep well millions of readers!

Murilo's Famous! Check it out.

http://blogs.diariodonordeste.com.br/automovel/

When I say we eat all the time...

For the record, it's a quarter to midnight and Zairinha just offered me fish to eat. ;)

Kelson's favorite places

Today I accidently slept in until noon... whoops. I'm going to chalk that up to jet lag... ;) After waking up, we left for the day and explored Maceio a little bit; this day could be titled "Kelson's favorite places."

The first place we went was a restaurant called Baru, and was an open aired restaurant overlooking a river (the river where his Jet Ski accident was, none the less.) This picture is looking at the parking lot,

away from the river. The restaurant always has music, and today it had a quartet that played mostly samba music. It was fantastic! What an atmosphere! And that's exactly why we went. We were at this restaurant all day. We started with drinks, and I enjoyed my new favorite, aqua de coco (coconut water). Lest you be diverted, it tastes much different t

han what you find in those dry, brown coconuts in the grocery store. Murilo practically lives off this stuff when he's here, and he won't touch the water from the coconuts in the grocery store. We eventually ordered a dish of fried fish with farofa (a tasty variety of ground corn meal, i think) and a salsa of diced vegetables. Murilo's family eats most food with olive oil, which really does make food (especially slightly dry meat) taste great. After eating we just stayed. With the perfect, winter-in-Florida temperature, slight breeze, the view and the music, it was amazing. That is, until Kelson caught me off guard by calling the quartet over and had me take a picture with them... I dragged Luisa into it... And they discovered a new past time: getting me to flush.

I am learning, however, to do things slower here. I am learning to walk slower, eat and drink slower, and just how to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. It's a nice change away from angry Corvallis parents to say the least. :)

After Baru, we went to another restaurant on the same river called O Peixarao. It had a magnificent view that I struggled to capture with the camera.

I decided it was better in real life, but here are a couple of my best attempts, anyway. We watched the sunset here which turned the clouds into this crazy display of colors. Here we had agua de coco and shrimp soup, which again, was AMAZING! It was a little bit like oyster chowder only not quite as thick and the chunks were more like small shreds. I'm keeping track of my favorite food so I can open a Brazilian restaurant someday - it's just not right that the US is deprived of this stuff.

On the way back to the apartment we stopped at the grocery store (owned by Wal Mart, believe it or not) and split into two: team grocery and team tapioca. Tapioca is a food typical of Bahia. The food has this base of a fine, sweet rice-type substance pressed into a small tortilla-like shape with coconut. (I think this is the "Tapioca" part of it all). They top this base with various things: you can order it with cheese and chicken, ham and cheese, chocolate and banana, cheese and condensed milk. Louisa ordered for her and I and we split the two she ordered. One was queijo e carne do sol (cheese and this salty, corned-beef-but-better like meat), and the other was quijo e dulce de leite. She ordered the second one without the cheese, but they missed that detail. I thought it was still good.

Now we are having our typical evening: hanging out in the living room with TV, conversation, and food (really, we eat a lot.)

I'll post more pictures to facebook. Time to stop indulging myself with english! Tomorrow I'll try to write a post to introduce you to the family.