This week has been amazing, but b-u-s-y. An update is coming soon...

Let me give a brief explanation of the pictures that I’ve posted from Friday’s tour. “Filhos de Gandhy” is a carnival group inspired by Gandhi that has an old man as a mascot that looks just like Gandhi. (Google-image-it and see for yourself!) The statue of Hippocrates is in front of the library of medicine which belongs to the first medical school built in South America. Cardinal Pedro Fernandes Sardinha was the first bishop of Brazil who was rescued, then eaten by natives. The gold statue is of Tomas Souza, a conquistador who founded Salvador as the first capital of Brazil.

Yesterday I went to Praia do Forte to visit a castle, a turtle preservation, and the beach. The castle was constructed between 1555 and 1624 by Garcia D’Avila who was quartermaster for the Portuguese crown. It is the first large Portuguese establishment in Brazil and served to protect the country from foreign ship attack, thus giving the place its name “Praia do Forte” or the Fortress beach. By the castle there is a g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s tree that is approximately 100 years old. I felt like I had stepped into Bridge to Terabithia. The tree is exceptionally large for its age because there isn’t really winter here and there aren't other trees growing near it to inhibit growth.

And the turtles…oh the turtles! They have a preservation that rescues injured turtles and helps protect the eggs laid on the shore. The pictures are of rescued turtles of various types that are kept in captivity so that the public can come and the organization can raise awareness and funds for the cause.

After lunch I went to the beach and explored the stone reef along the shore. I saw crabs, sea urchins, sea anemones, fishies, and hermit crabs! Further down was open shore without the reef and beautiful clear, warm water. There was also a father teaching his son capoeira near us and a few of us tried to join them. It was super cute because the boy was only 3 or 4.

For the last hour or so I browsed the shops on the beach and bought a beautiful lavender dress for about $15 dollars and then later the necklace in the picture. We left the Praia do Forte around 4:30 and got back just after 6:00PM. The rest of the night I just started brainstorming for my paper which I started writing this morning. I am taking the day to catch up on work and answer e-mails. If I haven’t answered your e-mail yet, expect a reply tomorrow night. (I say tomorrow night because after classes I am going to my first capoeira lesson!)

Well I am a happy girl. I have found a place to buy my yogurt and granola! The yogurt that I bought the first time was light so it was sweeten with aspartame. This time I found the real stuff. I scoped out all the local shops to find it after I ran in Campo Grande this morning. I hadn’t realized how close I am to the coast. One of the streets by Campo Grande has a beautiful view of the ocean. I explored a little to see if I could possibly run along the coast but the area didn’t seem very safe so I think that I’m going to stick with Campo Grande.

After lunch I went on a tour of Pelourinho, the historic part of Salvador. The Franciscan church in the main square is incredible. As soon as you walk into the sanctuary you are wrapped in gold. Gold plating is everywhere! The crucifix shows Jesus on the cross with one arm reaching down to St. Francisco who is embracing him. Of course this is historically impossible because St. Francisco didn’t live during the time of Christ, but symbolically it serves its purpose. The Franciscan order was considerably poor so it seems strange to see such an opulent display. The tour guide explained that it was built during the gold find in Brazil when the entire region was swimming in gold. The church was designed to demonstrate the authority and importance of the church, which it does brilliantly. There is an area above the altar where the rich would sit while the poor stood below (there were no pews originally). On the left hand side of the church along the walls are the female saints and the males are on the right, according to the old tradition of separating the genders at mass. The tour guide also noted that the statues are held up by figures from greek mythology who according to tradition hold up the world, but they have faces of Indians.

The main square is where there used to be a pole for flogging before the criminal was taken down the hill for public scorn (you know, call the person names and throw rotten veggies) and/or prison. Across from the prison used to a church that was demolished in the name of progress and the picture of the leaning broken cross is a monument of this thoughtless destruction…

Happy belated 4^th of July! I couldn’t write yesterday because I only had a brief time between when I got home from class and the time I was supposed to meet with the others to commemorate the day by eating American food (either Subway, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, or Burger King) at Shopping Barra and watching an American film. I shared a taxi with two girls on my street and we met up with other students in our program at the mall. When they saw that the only films showing were Fantastic Four and Shrek 3 the plans changed and we ended up going to a bar across the street called Bohemia (Bohemia was the first Brazilian beer) to watch the Mexico v. Chile and Brazil v. Ecuador soccer games. We met some Brits at the bar which a few people found to be hilarious b/c the 4^th of July is about liberation from Britain, yet celebrate together we did! The bar had two live bands that played farró and I also met the host brother of Josh, another student from Tulane staying here for the summer then going to São Paulo. (Josh’s host brother’s friend asked me to tutor him on English while I am here and I told him I would.) I enjoyed myself until the games finished but by then I was ready to go. I took a taxi home and somehow when I opened the door to get out by my apartment I broke off the door handle. I was mortified, but taxi driver told me not to worry about it and complemented me for being so strong.

Earlier yesterday I got a chance to have a good talk with Bethany, a girl who lives close to me. We both agreed that we weren’t interested in the club or bar scene, so I’m relieved to have her to hang out with over the next few months. She is pretty homesick so we each talked about our home and loved ones and I went with her to the post off to mail a few letters. I mailed off a trial letter, anyone want to place a bet on how long it will take to get home? She came to Brazil the summer after her junior year of highschool without knowing in Portuguese. She told me that the experience changed the way she thinks and acts. Since then she hasn’t been interested in partying and studying Portuguese and Brazil became her special hobby/interest. She has a boyfriend at home too that I can tell she really misses, so I’m thinking that she and I might become good friends.

Yesterday I also resolved never to wear heels in this city. I have no idea how all the women do it! I only tried b/c I was wearing a black shirt and my heels are the only black shoes that I brought, but after the first class I had to buy sandals b/c I had already formed 4 blisters on each foot.

Today has not been terribly eventful. In the culture class we studied candomblé, an African religion strongly present in Bahia, and I’ve just gotten home from the language class. Conchita is sick with the flu so cross your fingers that I don’t catch it.

Today classes officially started. I have my culture class in the morning 9-11 AM and my Portuguese class in the afternoon from 2-6 PM. (That’s right, FOUR H-O-U-R-S of Portuguese class.) By the time class is out it is already dark outside. In the culture class we talked about the Brazilian government, geography, laws, etc. After class I came home for lunch (which was delicious with veggies, chicken, rice, and beans) and I made some revisions on my outfit. I was wearing jeans, my tennis shoes, and my button-up long-sleeve western-ish shirt with a tank top underneath. I felt like such an alemão that I had to switch to sandals and just the tank top.

Speaking of clothes, the host mom is supposed to wash our clothes for us but we have to wash our own underwear. I’m still trying to figure out how exactly I’m going to do this. Conchita suggested that I should wash it while I’m showering. I’ll let you know how that goes…

I was placed in the Intermediate A Portuguese class which is level 4 of 5. My class was in a little closet of a room with about 7-8 students. The class wasn’t quite as painfully long as I expected and the level was comfortable.

I’m afraid today wasn’t nearly as eventful as the past few days have been, although I did buy some plain yogurt (my favorite) at a store near my house and I also learned that the minimum wage here is R$390/month which is about $200/month. Divide that by about 20 work days a month and 8 work hours a day, and that brings you to about $1.25/hr.

O 2 de Julho

I went to mass last night at a beautiful little chapel just down the road. It is interesting to me where little pockets of European influence pop-up. (For example, the monument in Parque Grande depicts fat little cherubs and a god-like figure with flowing robes and the aforementioned church is built in baroque style, complete with Caucasian representations of Jesus and Mary.) The music at mass was beautiful. I had to smile to myself when the communion song was the Fisherman’s Song because the first time I went to Spanish mass they played that song too. It was easy to follow along with the mass, especially with the pamphlet that I picked up at the back of the church. The homily was a different story (but I think my difficulty had a lot to do with the fan blowing in my ear). When I got back Conchita told me that Ruben had called for me to see if I wanted to go to the movies. We met up with the other kids living near us in Garcia and with Felipe, the host brother of one of the girls. We went down to Shopping Barra to the theater there and saw Shrek dubbed over in Potuguese. While we waited for the movie to start I bought a TIM chip for my cell so that I can use it in Brazil to make local calls. They gave us a ½ off discounts and free popcorn for being students at the theater, but unfortunately, we misunderstood the movie times and showed up 25 minutes late. It was still very enjoyable and a surprising number of jokes translated (although I’m sure that I missed many of them.) We took a taxi straight home afterward because this morning we had to meet at 8:15 AM to go to Pelourinho for the Independence Day parade. I took as many pictures as my card could hold of the parade and I’ve posted some of them here. I saw a bit of everything: capoeira (an African martial art), afoxes (Candomblé goddesses), samba, military men and women, government officials, a strange striped horse-zebra type creature, tons of costumed Brazilians, precious children, and much to my surprise, two other Tulane students here on vacation before their semester abroad in Buenos Aires.

When I got back to my house no one was home so I took the time to post the pictures on my blog and catch up on e-mails. Conchita scolded me for not going out tonight when she got home and demanded to know when I planned to go to the beach. I can’t help but feel like a bore when my 60(+) yr-old host Mom is pressuring me to go out more. Classes officially start tomorrow and my first paper is due in a week. Speaking of a week, I am also pleased to say that I’ve just completed my first week away. The time has passed pretty quickly for me- much more quickly at least than my first week abroad in Mexico or my week in Honduras. A big hug to everyone at home!

Yesterday (Saturday) was a free day. I wanted to talk to my family and Chase in the morning while they were available so I got up around 7, ate breakfast, and went for a short run. I took the run com tudo calma because I want to give myself plenty of time to adjust to the food, climate, and traveling. Parque Grande is very close to here and it seems like a great place to run. There are police officers around and tons of kids and other people running. The mornings are very pleasant and there always seems to be a nice breeze here since it is so close to the coast. When I got back I took a quick shower and got to use the Internet at my house to talk on Skype for a while. I started a list of new vocabulary words and had lunch with Conchita and Isa (the 30 yr. old daughter). Isa invited me to go with her to a soccer game of her favorite team, Victória, and listen to farró music later that night at a boate (night club). Salvador has 2 teams but Victória is in Division II, though Isa is sure that they will pass to Division I soon, and the other team, Salvador, is only in Division III. Her boyfriend, Favio, picked us up and we met up with some of their friends at the game. May I just say that Brazilians are amazing soccer players. Victória won 4:0 in a fine display of futebol. The tickets were R$10 (~$5 USD) and we went in a special section only for people with an orange bracelet which Isa’s friend gave us. She told us that the other parts of the stand are more chaotic and indeed, they were. People set off firecrackers, played drums, waved huge flags, and danced through the whole game.

After the game we stopped by a restaurant and talked to a few friends of Isa and Favo, then Isa and I picked up some bread for Conchita and went back to the house. We left for the boate at 10:15 and picked up Favio. Once again Isa seemed to know all the right people and got us 3 VIP passes for free entry. All the women were dressed to impress and it doesn’t seem to matter the body type, they all strut it! We met with more of Isa’s friends and Ruben, another student in the program (although I thought that he was Brazilian at first). I learned that the name farró supposedly came about during WWII when there was a big dance that the Americans said was “for all” and which the Brazilians understood as farró (pronounced as fa-ho). I learned how to dance to it pretty easily. It’s just two steps to the side with a little kick. Ruben’s host family took me home (because Isa wanted to go to Favio’s house), and I cleaned up and slept until this morning when I woke up to the sound of a soccer game in a field near my apartment. I ran again this morning and took a nap. Isa invited me to go with her to the beach and another soccer game but mass at the church near the house is at 6, so I told her I’d go with her tomorrow. I’m going to take the day to rest and watch TV with Conchita, who sits and stitches all day watching TV programs. I’m not used to so much TV, but it is helpful to hear the Portuguese with visual clues.