Week 4

Believe it or not (because I know I can't), as of Tuesday, I will have been here for four full weeks! They seriously just fly by; I don't think I've ever lived through a faster month in my entire life. I keep telling myself that this month just went by super quickly because it's the first month–but in reality, I'm pretty sure most of the next five months (not six anymore?!) are going to go just as quickly. February is going to be a month of solid activities: This Friday (or maybe Saturday), I'm planning to take a bus to Minas Gerais. One of the girls in the program with me has a friend there near (or in? not sure) Belo Horizonte, which is the capital of Minas. I'll be going with four or five other friends, and the friend in Minas is letting us stay in his apartment for free, which is awesome. We'll probably explore some cities over there, and I'm looking forward to seeing some of the national parks. After that, I return to Rio for the week or so of Carnaval on the 12th. I don't really have my plans solidified yet (but I don't really need to, as something will be going on somewhere 24 hours a day for that week). THEN (yep, there's more), after Carnaval I think I am going to be taking my bigger trip, which is going to be down to the Foz do Iguaçu. We will probably bus down there too, since it's cheaper, and we have a little more time (about a week and a half in between Carnaval and school starting up again). After Iguaçu, we're thinking about trying to get to the Pantanal, but that may be overly ambitious. And actually, all of these things are overly ambitious for me right now, seeing as my financial aid check has still not arrived, so I can't buy tickets (bus or airplane or otherwise). But that should happen soon, I hope.

March will probably go by pretty quick, being the first month of real classes at PUC. And April will probably go by quick, having my birthday, having Erica visit, and going to Minas again with the University of California students (they pay for us to have a weekend trip there, in Ouro Preto). So I guess if there's going to be a slow month, it will be May…but to be honest, I think that every month is just gonna slip through my fingers.

I should probably have already blogged this week, because I am having a hard time remembering everything I did! I wanted to devote a whole post to the awesome (read: terrible) day I had on Thursday, registering with the Federal Police. But I also wanted to devote a whole post to what I did yesterday! And I still have homework to do for tomorrow! What a dilemma! Not really, but I swear that these things are worth writing about…I guess I'll just do my best and then round out the post with some pictures, which I know are always crowd-pleasers.

So Thursday was the day I had to go to the international airport to register with the Federal Police. Brazilians are definitely all about bureaucracy. The Federal Police registration is mandatory for anyone visiting Brazil for over a month; if you don't register within thirty days of arrival, you end up paying a fee for every day you were illegally in Brazil. But they don't make it easy for you to register! Each day, the police only accept 60 people to register with them. Maybe this wouldn't be such a hassle at another time of year, but right now, lots of foreigners are arriving with the intention of staying through February for Carnaval, etc. and so 60 people a day is not very much. One group of international students in my program went on Monday and actually got there too late, and had to return on Tuesday. This might not seem so bad, but keep in mind that they left the university at 7 AM on Monday, and since that wasn't early enough, every subsequent group had to leave at 6 AM. For me, that meant getting up at 5 AM on Thursday. It was remarkably easy to get up, and I got to see another one of those giant hummingbirds (Swallow-Tailed Hummingbird) perched on the fence outside my building. The rest of the day was a lot less satisfying. We got to the airport before 7 and had to wait around for them to open the doors to the office; then we we got in, we had to wait to get in line to take numbers. Then, we finally had our numbers, and we had to wait for them to be called. The actual process of granting the registration is REALLY SIMPLE. They look at your visa, your passport, and this other form you have to fill out, and then they stamp some stuff and you're done. But for some reason, it isn't that easy for some people. So we ended up being there until about 4 PM. It was basically like being at the DMV. I haven't decided which one I hate more.

Yesterday, I got to go on a "boat tour" of the Guanabara Bay (which is the bay that Rio is next to). It was essentially just a party boat cruise all afternoon, though: open bar (sponsored by the University of California?), a DJ, barbecue, and swimming. We were meant to go meet at PUC in order to take a tour bus from there to the Marina da Gloria, where we were getting on the boat. I had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to have to be going in circles, because so far, most of the times I've had to meet at PUC, the bus or whatever that takes us to our end destination passes Laranjeiras. But I got up and waited for the bus to go to PUC anyway, instead of asking about where the Marina was. This proved to be a mistake. First of all, I really don't understand the buses here. You have to flag them down, first of all, which seems easy, except that they don't always stop for you. This happened yesterday. Then, they seem to have no set schedule. For example, the bus I take to school will sometimes come like, three in 15 minutes, and sometimes have gaps of about 40 minutes. This is just like the 51 in Berkeley, so it isn't like it's something unheard of, but it's still really annoying and it makes it hard for me to ever be on time or predict when I'll get somewhere. So this basically happened yesterday, and even though I got up around 10 in the morning, and even though Laranjeiras is at most about 30 minutes away from school on the bus, I still didn't get to PUC until about 12:20. Thomas called me and told me that they were going to leave without me, so when I jumped off the bus I ran the rest of the way. Which sucked. Please imagine running in dumb rubber flip flops up hill in 90 degree heat. Yep. So then, we finally get going. And lo and behold, we are taking the route my bus takes for me to get home; however, I figured we would just pass the exit to my road. I figured wrong. We didn't just go back in the direction I had just come from, we actually went RIGHT BY THE BUS STOP THAT I HAD WAITED AT FOR 40 MINUTES. I was remarkably un-upset, because it had sort of been a stressful time getting there. But I definitely whined and complained about it to everyone who'd listen, including the directors of the program and the UC study center director. Haha. Oh well. I deserved to get to complain a little.

It was definitely worth the annoying driving around in circles, in the end. The boat trip was awesome. I saw dolphins, crazy fish jumping out of the water, a lot of cool sea birds, I think I saw a sea turtle, and we got to go swimming in the ocean. Major downside though? Major seasickness. I have never gotten seasick (or motion sick at all!) in my whole life, but yesterday I guess all my complaining about the bus gave me some bad karma or something. After going swimming for a little bit, I climbed back in the boat, and just felt like I wanted to die. I tried to just wait for the feeling to pass for about 30 minutes, but in the end, there was really only one solution: Chamar Raoul. "Chamar Raoul" is the phrase Brazilians use to say vomit. It literally means "to call out Raoul." The thinking behind this is that when you vomit, the noise you make sounds like the name Raoul, roughly pronounced in Portuguese "Khaa-ooow." So I threw up (in a trashcan, though, because I'm a considerate person and didn't want to ruin the swimming for everyone). The CCCI director got to witness my awesome display, and then she teased me a little bit because, just as whenever I vomit otherwise, this outburst was LOUD. But karma got her too, because a while later she threw up off the side of the boat. So ha. After throwing up I felt much better, albeit embarrassed, but other people ended up getting seasick too, so I don't feel too bad. The rest of the boat ride was great; everyone else was drinking a lot, so they were all really fun to be around, dancing and whatnot. We went under the bridge that goes between Niteroi and Rio, and I got to see awesome views of both cities, including of the MAC (the Contemporary Art Museum in Niteroi that looks like a flying saucer). I was planning on visiting Niteroi today, actually, but didn't end up going. Soon enough!

One last thing before I post a few pictures: I got a haircut here! It was 17 reais for a haircut and a shampoo (which is about nine USD right now, thanks to the ever improving exchange rate), and it also came with a little cup of coffee. It's not my favorite haircut I've ever had, but I also survived the barrier of not really being able to tell the barber how I wanted my hair to look. I ended up telling him (in Portuguese) that I wanted it to be medium length, and more Brazilian looking; to be real, anything is more Brazilian looking than the hairstyle I had before, so whatever. Anyway, I will probably go back to that place, it was full of friendly people and I came out satisfied! Good job, Brazil.

I still have to read a story and write a mini essay about it, and I wanted to get to bed within the next hour and a half, so I am going to close the post with some pictures now! Até mais!

The one on the right is the boat we took!

This is...some fort or something. Haha.

This is a view of Niteroi, with the MAC on the left.

This is a view of Rio. The point thing just right of center is the Corcovado, and if you squint you might be able to see Cristo Redentor. The kind of flat rectangular mountain in the middle is the Pedro da Gávea.

I don't know what this is, but it looks so Brazilian.

Niteroi

Niteroi and the MAC again.

Week 3

The gecko I found on the wall in the hall

Today, I'll be rounding out my third week in Brazil by visiting the Sambódromo (again). Every Sunday night they have technical rehearsals there in preparation for the parades during Carnaval, and these rehearsals are open to the public. We're going in a big group, and bringing at least one of the Brazilian friends we've made so that we have a local to help us out. It should be pretty fun!

Yesterday, the CCCI (I have no idea what that acronym stands for, but it is the acronym of the international student office of the university) took us on a passeio, or field trip, to the historical city of Petrópolis. It was where the Imperial Palace stood (and now stands as a museum), and was a vacation retreat of Emperors and later Presidents. It's about an hour away from Rio, up in the hills.

This is the house of inventor Alberto Santos Dumont. Brazilians say he invented airplanes.

He made it so you could only start walking up his stairs with your right foot.

This is me in front of a cathedral there.

This is part of my lunch. They had square eggs...I didn't really get it.

This is a road in Petrópolis.

This is the view facing away from the cathedral.

Week 2

Here goes my first Sunday post!

Right now I'm reclining in my bed (which is pretty much what I've been doing all day, exciting, I know) and I can hear some soccer game on the TV in the living room and also on at least one other TV in the apartment complex. I think that my host mom's real son is here visiting and watching it, but I haven't gone down to check and see if it's him yet. I'm pretty sure it is, though, because here, Sundays are the day that families visit each other, so it makes sense.

I've been googling and wiki-ing Brazilian birds for the past hour or so, because I've seen a lot of birds so far that I don't recognize and I've been trying to identify. I'm having a lot of success, although there are a couple birds that I don't know how I'm going to identify without having a proper bird book. Yesterday I went to the Jardim Botânico again, and this time I brought my camera! Unfortunately, a lot of the birds were a little camera shy, so I don't necessarily have the best pictures of them. But I'm going to start keeping a list of the new birds that I see every week, and I'll include pictures (either ones I've taken or ones I find online). So here is installment one of the Brazil Bird List:

At the Jardim Botânico, I saw the following:

Slaty-breasted Wood-Rail (local name-saracura do brejo)- I thought these were chickens or something at first, seeing them from afar. But they're more like coots, I guess.

Swallow-tailed Hummingbird- This is the biggest, prettiest hummingbird I have ever seen! But I didn't get a picture because it kind of swooped in out of nowhere, hung around for a second, and then flew away.

Dusky-legged Guan- This one looked like a weird pheasant/turkey type bird, and half jumped, half flew up into a tree.

Masked Water-Tyrant (freirinha)- I have seen a few of these besides in the Botanical Garden, and couldn't figure out what they were for the longest time. They're really striking!

Channel-Billed Toucan (tucano do bico preto)- This was definitely the coolest bird I saw at the Jardim Botânico. We happened to see it right before we left, because it landed in a tree over our heads. It was really hard to get a picture of, though, so my picture of it is kind of like a picture of Big Foot; if I told you it was of a toucan, you might believe me. Apparently there's a few subspecies of this type of toucan, but the picture I'm linking to is the one that looks like the one I saw.

I also saw some kind of dove at the Botanical Garden, but since I am not sure what kind, I will not include it yet. This also goes for some other random birds I saw.

In addition to the Botanical Garden, I've seen some cool birds at the beach:

Magnificent Frigatebird/Great Frigatebird (one of the two, not sure which)- These guys are always flying above the beach, really high up. I've heard that they steal food from people and stuff, but haven't seen that yet.

Amazon Kingfisher- A big kingfisher I saw skimming the water at Ipanema one time.

Anyway. That's the beginning of the bird part of my blog I guess.

Other than the birds, I have a few pictures to post of my apartment, and of some of the cool stuff I saw in the Botanical Garden.

My room

The living room

Living room again

The view from my window (note the jungle across the street)

A monkey! Macaquinho!

Little kid trying interacting with the monkeys!

Little macaquinho screaming in the bamboo.

Huge lizard! I would say it was a couple feet long!

After the Botanical Garden yesterday, I went to see a play with some of my friends from California and one of the girls from China. One of the girls from California is living with a host dad who knew someone who got us free tickets to the play. The play was called As Meninas and it was about the death of a woman and the subsequent effects on her female relatives (but it was a black comedy, so it wasn't too much of a downer). After that, we went to this apartment party in Botafogo. The apartment belonged to this guy from Harvard who is here in Brazil doing something with his company that tries to help ameliorate the situation in favelas. I guess he's already done some stuff in India, so he's working here now. There were mostly only Brazilians there, and a few Americans that have been living in Brazil for like 5 or 6 years...basically Brazilians. Got to practice a lot of Portuguese. And there was great music, and it was a really relaxed, chill setting. Basically yesterday, with the Botanical Garden, a play, and a chill party, was an ideal Brazilian day for me (maybe missing a quick visit to the beach).

This week we have a day off on Wednesday for a Brazilian holiday, São Sebastião. And then on Friday, I have to go to the international airport with a bunch of other students to register with the federal police. And then on Saturday, I think we have a field trip somewhere...I think to Petrópolis, which is a city of historical importance or something. So another big week starting tomorrow! I'll try and take lots of pictures and remember lots of important things to write about! Até logo!

Week 1.5

Today I didn't go to my Portuguese class because I wasn't feeling well this morning. I feel better now, so I am glad I didn't go and recovered instead. But since I haven't really done anything today (besides my Portuguese homework) I thought I should take this time to blog; also, I was about to go get food when it started storming again, so this is a good way to wait around for the rain to let up.

So the weather here is completely different than anything I've ever experienced. I knew it was going to be hot and humid, and I knew that the storms here would be different, but I really wasn't prepared for how different. Last night we had our first thunderstorm with rain and everything, and it was a sight to behold. I left my house around 8:30 pm, and walked a few steps. I noticed a few raindrops starting to fall. I then walked about 15 more seconds, when all of a sudden, the clouds let loose. The rain was falling in buckets. I ran under the cover of a nearby bar, thinking it would just be a temporary downpour. But it didn't stop for about half an hour. In addition to the water, there was almost constant thunder and lightning. It was quite an experience for me, since Monterey really doesn't have that kind of weather. I ended up going out anyway, since I had already been soaked, and in about 45 minutes it wasn't raining anymore and I dried off. However, later in the night the rain picked up again, and it's been raining on and off ever since. Seeing the rain like this makes it a lot easier for me to understand the landslides

south of here. Anyway, even though it's raining cats and dogs, its still really hot (I think about 82 ºF right now), so I'll probably just wear my shorts to walk to the grocery store now.

Also, I think I'm going to try and get a post up here every Sunday at the minimum, since Sundays are kind of the least busy day for me. Até logo!

Week 1

A waterfall na Floresta da Tijuca.

Walking down from visiting the waterfall

in the Floresta da Tijuca. The wall on

the left is solid concrete...but it didn't

stop those plants.

I have been here for a week (minus about 12 hours, but since I'll be sleeping for the next 9 or so I figure they don't matter too much). Some things are exactly how I expected them to be, but at the same time almost everything continues to surprise me. This city is nothing like any of the other big cities I've been in (i.e. San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston). The people here are so friendly, and loud, and have such energy, and they all seem to be connected to everyone else. In addition, even though there's a lot of vanity here, just like in any other city (maybe more, actually), at the same time there is a lot more tolerance of differences. For me, this is really clear at the beach, where you can see all the women wearing bikinis and all the men wearing sungas (that's what you call a speedo, here). Sure, a lot of these people are VERY attractive, but a lot of them aren't, at least not in a typical beach body sort of way. Also, the way people talk here is very different (besides it being in Portuguese). People use so many gesticulations and facial expressions here that, yeah, sometimes are used in the US, but I feel like here these gestures are omnipresent.

Bah. This is not the best blog post. I have so much more to say but I am SO tired and hot right now. Maybe tomorrow after class I will be able to blog some and get my thoughts out correctly.