Ital-ivin' it up! (Does that work?)

Sorry for the lack of posting! I'll update you on a few things that have been going on!

Italian Thanksgiving

Caitlin and me (and Pup!)

Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Italy, but we decided not to let that stop us and instead had two! Thursday evening, I was invited to my friends' apartment (with no dining room or living room) to a potluck style Thanksgiving dinner with about 20 other students. It turned out really well (mostly due to my Mac and Cheese and Spinach Artichoke dip) and the food was delicious. My friend Caitlin and I decided to don impromptu Pilgrim and Indian costumes (made out of poster board) and, post-dinner, preformed a poem describing the first Thanksgiving. It was quite a hit. Saturday, our school put on another big feast, where everyone brought side dishes and the SGA provided 15 turkeys. I ate a lot. Sunday we continued the American tradition by putting on a little football tournament in the large park in the city. My team lost in the finals!

Florence

Tower we climbed

 Florence is a short 40 minute train ride to Bologna and I have been twice in the past month. The first trip I took was with 3 of my friends and with no real agenda. We climbed to the top of the bell tower of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore and had a beautiful view of the famous Duomo. We lunched in a little restaurant and wandered around the city, ending our night drinking a bottle of wine in front of the Church of Santa Maria Novella. 

View from tower

My second trip to Florence was... less successful. My Italian Art and Culture class was taking a field trip to Florence to see Michelangelo's David and to visit the famous Uffizi museum. My friend Doireann and I decided to take a slightly later train than the rest of the class and coincidentally ran into our friend Brian at the station who had missed the earlier train. So the three of us sluggishly got on the train around 8:50 (instead of the 8:30, totally worth it) and took our seats.

(Now, Doireann had somehow been put in charge of holding on to the tickets for the entire class, key part of the story. Another fun part of the story- Brian and I decided not to buy tickets, seeing as Florence was only 30ish minutes away and the first stop. It was unlikely that the ticket checker would get around to us and if he/she did then we would play confused tourist and get off at the Florence stop.)

Doireann and me in front of Gold Doors

Doireann sits herself next to a friendly gentleman who she discovers is from Albania and is ever so helpful. We arrive at the first Florence stop and he tells us that this is not the right stop, we need to get off at Santa Maria Novella. Brian, having been to Florence twice already, agrees. Next stop is another Florence station, but not SMN. Albania tells us, oh no, we need SMN, not this stop. We all three sit back down slightly confused, but trusting our friend. 20 minutes later, we ask Albania if he's sure, and oh yes! the train goes around the city then comes back and stops at SMN. 10 minutes later we're sure he's wrong and, after asking the train official, our doubts are confirmed. Next stop, Rome!

Josiah, me, Brian outside Uffizi 

We would've have laughed it off and gotten a beer in Rome except for the two little details I mentioned before- Doireann holds the tickets for our 25 classmates and professor, and Brian and I don't have a train ticket, not even to Florence. For the next hour to Rome, we attempt to pass along the tickets to our classmates with the help of other train goers and their smart phones, while I stress (sweat) waiting for the ticket checker to come around and tell us we're going to jail (or more likely make us pay a hefty fine). Eventually, the ticket lady does come around, and let me tell you, I was never more grateful to have an Irish lady for a friend. She makes the greatest distressed tourist I have ever seen (only half of it was actually acting) and the train ticket checker lady never even questions Brian and me, she just wants to be out of our sight. Doireann pulls two more pretty amazing acts- getting back on the train in Rome to head back to Florence and then with yet another ticket checker on the train. Brian and I didn't pay for one ticket (or a fine) all day!

We ended up getting to Florence about 3 or 4 hours late and we were still able to see David and the Uffizi! We missed a few churches etc. in the beginning, but instead we had a lovely 5 minute stay in Rome.

Italian Wedding

Imagine this except the opposite...

... and with none of this.

This weekend I had a prospective student from Austria staying with me for a few nights, and I took it upon myself to show her around the city and make sure she had the real "SAIS Experience"! Saturday night she asked if we could go to Mass and I was more than happy to go with her to the church half a block from my apartment. I had never been to Saturday night Mass there, but I did not expect it to be much different. We walked in and noticed rice and flower petals and I commented that there must have been a wedding earlier. Then I saw 3 women in long red dresses with bouquets. It was a few minutes past 6:30, the church was dark (as usual), freezing (as usual), and held very few people (as usual), so I figured 6:30 Mass was not happening and these people were left over from the wedding. Then the organ started playing. My visitor and I took our seats, slightly confused, but curious. Next thing I know the bride (dressed in a long blue dress) is basically sprinting down the aisle WITH the groom, followed by 3 bridesmaids. Mass went on as normal except during the homily when the priest casually married the bride and groom. The whole thing was very Italian- the majority of guests arrived halfway through the Mass and sat in the back; the entire wedding party, sitting on the altar, talked the whole time; a little girl (maybe the bride's daughter?) was walking up to the bride and eventually sat on the bride's lap for the remainder of the ceremony; and it was just freezing (everyone had their coats on). It was all very strange. I was just waiting for soup, but sadly, never saw any.

Coming Up...

Venice, Vienna (for Christmas Day), Prague and Budapest (for New Year's) for my pre-finals break!

That Time I Went to Oktoberfest

The post you have all been waiting anxiously for- Oktoberfest. A couple weekends ago a group of friends and I decided to rent cars and drive up to Munchen (Munich, duh) and partake in the cultural, social and all around epic event of beer in large steins, lederhosen, meats, singing on tables, large crowds of smelly people and cheer! I will break the adventure down into sections. Enjoy.

The Car Ride
In my car there were 5 of us- Alex, Brian, Cormac, and Sean. And me. 4 men and a tall lady. We fit nicely into our hatchback Audi. Kind of. We didn't think it would be much of a problem being cramped in the car since it was going to be an easy 5 hour drive. Little did we know that the Autobahn would be closed once we hit Germany. Our 5 hour drive turned into an almost 9 hour drive! But this did not dampen our spirits. Our saving grace was a Italian/Austrian/German radio station called Energy that was playing Today's Hits while we rave danced in the car or, when traffic was stopped, on the side of das Autobahn. Also, once the road was opened again I got to drive (parts of the freeway do not have speed limits- fun). We arrived at Munich's Holiday Inn around 1 AM and went straight to bed.

McMorning Country
We woke up ready for a full day of Germans and drinking! We started our first morning in Germany off right- McDonald's breakfast. We got 5 McMorning Countries (sausage, egg, cheese, tomato, lettuce, horshradishshauch, on a kaiser roll, duh,) some coffees and headed to meet the other car of 5. We drank our questionable Italian energy drinks (could have been a little preemptive) and headed to the metro to make our way to the tents. We arrived around 830 and the area that housed the tents was already teeming with people and the "lines" (crowds of people in front of the tent entrances) were already huge. Somehow we cut a line just as some doors were opening, a couple of our group got into the tent and saved us a table while the rest of us were stuck being pushed and suffocated by a mass of Germans for the next hour. I never wanted a Xanax so badly.

The "Line"

Inside the Tent
Once I finally made my way into the tent I was welcomed with cheers and whistles and a vision of wooden tables and benches and hanging ivy and big breasted women in Dirndls (typical Bavarian dresses). Basically when you imagine what Oktoberfest looks like, that's what it looked like. My friends (about 12-14 of them) were all sitting at a table already enjoy a liter of beer each in giant glass mugs. The next few hours consisted of mug upon mug of beer, full roasted delicious chickens, picture taking, German songs, American songs (they really enjoyed playing Take Me Home, Country Roads), table dancing, and all around good German fun.

 No Longer Inside the Tent
We were kicked out around 3 when people with reservations came in. We found out quickly that it was raining outside. From 3 to 5 it was just chaotic. We broke the number 1 rule: Stay together. Eventually, our German friend managed to get the majority of us back  in the tent, but we didn't have a table so we couldn't be served. Some people were able to make friends and get a table/get served, but some did not. Those of us who did not decided to leave (after we saw a really brutal/bloody fight! I had to be held back. I was trying to get a front row seat/steal their spots at the table but apparently I was getting too close to the action.).

The Night
We met up with some of Brian's friends and walked through the rain to the center of the city to find food and (for no good reason) more drink. We eventually had kebabs and falafel (classic German meal) and the few of us decided to make our way back to our friends house with every intention of breaking in and going to sleep. Somehow we managed to subway back to house and realized as soon as we got there that it would be too hard (not to mention incredibly rude) to break in to our nice new friend's home. So we went down the street to a bar where 3/5 of us fell asleep at the table. A couple hours later, Cormac somehow finds us (by himself) and a little after that the rest of our crew shows up miraculously together. Finally we were able to get in the house and sleep.

2 Carmates and Innsbruck

The Journey Home
After some showers and a morning beer, we began our trek back to Bologna. We decided to stop in Innsbruck, Austria for lunch, and it was just so lovely! It was a beautiful town and we had traditional Austrian food- Schnitzel, deer, stew, wine, beer, and strudel! We played on a playground and then drove back to the great city of Bologna. And that was my Oktoberfest adventure. The end.

Cinque Terre(ble)- NoT!

Month #1 is finished! How time flies. PreTerm is over and I have completed Microeconomics and "Survival Italian." Somehow, I think my skills in economics surpassed my skills in Italian. I guess I will work on it (i.e. go to more restaurants and try to talk to the waiters but then eventually just point at the menu and then eat my pizza). Anyway, real semester classes start tomorrow and I've just looked over the syllabi and I'm quite excited about them, but also slightly intimidated by all the work I will have to do. I think I'm actually already behind. But school is boring! Let's talk about other stuff I've done!

Last weekend I went to Cinque Terre with a few of my friends. We took a train from Bologna that got us into 5T (I didn't make that nickname up) at about 4 in the afternoon. We were starving so we made the mistake of eating food before searching for lodging. We had been told that we would be able to find rooms that are not advertised online when we arrived, but at 6:00 pm on a Saturday during peak season, surprisingly, rooms were not readily available. We spent a couple hours searching around the town of Vernazza (the smallest of the 5) before we decided to train over to the next town Monterosso (the biggest of the 5) to look for rooms there. To no avail. We ended up going back to Vernazza around 10 to stay in tiny rooms that cost way too much for what they were and were significantly more expensive than any other place. But, at least we weren't sleeping on the beach? We had a late dinner and were in bed early, hoping for a better day on Sunday.

Which we had! We met up with another group of SAIS students and a large group of us hiked from Vernazza to Monterosso, about an hour and a half hike. It was beautiful! After the hike we went for a swim in the sea and sat on the rocky beaches of Monterosso, just admiring the view. We had a quick meal and toured around the town for a bit before heading back to Vernazza to get our things. From Vernazza, we took the little train to Manarola and walked the short hike to the first town Riomaggiore. The hike is about 20 minutes which goes along a path called Via Dell'Amore (The Way of Amore), which is famous for lovers graffiti-ing the walls and locking padlocks all over the place to prove their eternal love. The story is actually quite interesting, I guess: The Story. So from there we took the little train to La Spezia and then 2 bigger trains to get back to Bologna. It was certainly quite an adventurous weekend; we hiked, we swam and we learned to book lodging ahead of time.

After a stressful week preparing for the Microeconomics final Thursday, the weekend was all party! Thursday night I went to a cocktail party at the director of the program's home. The whole program was split into 3 groups and over 3 nights each group was invited to the director's apartment. Which is incredible. He and his wife have a huge balcony that is so close to the famous 2 towers in the center of the city. I talked to both the director and his wife, who are very pleasant, and then went out with my new friends afterward. Friday my friend Brian and I climbed up to San Luca which is on top of a hill just outside the city walls of Bologna. The walkway that leads up to it is 3.5 km and is covered by the world's longest arcade. It was a beautiful day and the view from the top was amazing. (Side Story: This was actually my second attempt at climbing up to San Luca. The first was with my roommate, Holly, and we made the mistake of following Google map directions which led us through a strange neighborhood and tried to get us to cut through private property and then we found ourselves climbing through trees into a field riddled with signs warning us of attack dogs. And we never made it to the church. So, this 2nd attempt was much more successful.)

View of Rolling Italian Hills

     

Arcade Arches Leading to San Luca

Saturday night, Matt and Caitlin had some of our friends over for a potluck dinner. We ate a lot, learned drinking games from around the world (US and UK) and danced to old hits from stars like Celine Dion and Seal until 3 in the morning. Classic Italian evening. 

Caitlin and Cormac Playing 'Bunnies'

So far, the people in the program with me are really making my experience here (I mean look at them!). But seriously, I've met some really amazing personalities, all with equally amazing experiences to share. I can tell I will learn a lot from them and I know I will be challenged by them. It's going to be quite the year!

Oktoberfest next weekend! More to come soon!

B-O-L-O-G-N-A

I have arrived! It's been about 10 days now in Bologna and it feels like I've been here for years (kind of). I'm all settled into my apartment, which is just superb, and finished my first week of classes. My apartment is just 10/15 minute walk from school and a short walk from the city center, GREAT location. It has 2 bedrooms and a large living area. I get along really well with my roommate and I think I've really lucked out with the living situation.

Classes have been challenging, yet interesting thus far. I'm taking Survival Italian for 2.5 hours a day and Microeconomics for another 2.5 hours. It's a lot of class time, but I think I've already learned a lot just after 1 week! You probably wouldn't know though, if you heard me attempt to speak any Italian. I think I've retained a good amount then I try to say a simple sentence to a waiter or whoever and it comes out as Italian/French/Portuguese/English mush. I guess it can only get better from here.

Hey! Surprise! I'm making some friends! The people here are really great and utterly fascinating. Each life story is more interesting than the last. I have friends from Egypt, England, America, Ireland, Austria, Germany and the list goes on. I have a feeling I will be learning just as much from my peers and friends as I will from my classes. We have been doing a lot of socializing since we only have a couple classes and the real work has yet to start. After my class gets out at 7:30, we usually go eat dinner and drink wine and beer until about 9:30 when we meet up with other SAIS students in a Piazza or (oddly enough) an Irish Bar near by (it can accommodate the large crowd that we generally travel with [which I think should begin to diminish soon {I hope}]). Anyway, it's been a lot of socializing and small talking and drinking, so I'm not sure I've exactly begun the Italian lifestyle just yet (other than the drinking. The Italians drink a lot.).  I've also eaten a LOT of pizza. We will set out for dinner determined not to get pizza for the 3rd meal in a row and find ourselves at a Trattoria eating a bigger pizza than the last one we had. It's hard not to eat it when it's SO good and SO cheap.

Last night we went to a football game, Forzo Bologna vs. AC Milan. It was quite an interesting experience. All the Bologna fans crowd into 2 sections on one end of the field and the Milan fans crowd into 1 section on the other end and there are tons of empty seats in between. These fans are very intense! I think I had more fun watching the fans than watching the game (Bologna lost 1-3). Then afterwards, we got pizza!

All in all, so far so good. Bologna is a pretty city, albeit covered in graffiti. It's very old and it smells like pee everywhere, but it's got character! I'm excited to explore it more in depth. The weather has finally cooled down from the sweltering 104 degree days and is now almost chilly. I'm looking forward to Fall in Bologna, although I know my free time will be limited with classes and studying. Luckily, I'm also looking forward to my classes. Anyway, I miss DC, but I'm quite happy to be here! If anyone would like to visit, I just discovered I have a fold out couch, so come on over!

x

An Almost Close Encounter with Anacondas

I know I'm home, but I thought I'd do a couple more posts to fill in what I missed in my last two weeks.

      So my second to last weekend my three friends and I decided to take a trip to a beach that is a couple hours north of Salvador. The beach town is very touristy and is known for its outdoor activities (ATVs, horseback riding, snorkeling, etc.) and its turtle reserve. I had been dying to visit since the beginning of my trip. Saturday morning we said good bye to some volunteers then grabbed the bus and headed north. When we arrived it began raining. Just the first of many unfortunate incidents to come. We decided to get lunch and coffee and wait out the rain a bit. Moods were low and tempers were short, so we decided to go to our hostel and situate ourselves, maybe take a nap.
      (Now, I must mention that this weekend was a holiday weekend [the festival of Sao Jao, a holiday celebrated in Bahia as much as Christmas] so the few hostels that were located inside the main town were all filled up. I took the liberty of booking us at a hostel located just outside the town, the Saiparinga Forest Hostel.) We approach a taxi stand and the taxi man, Tom, told us that the taxi ride to our hostel would be R$40 (expensive for a taxi ride). Reluctantly we agree, seeing no other option. He beckons our taxi, a little three wheeled truck/scooter with a glorified covered wagon on the back for us to sit in. We all laugh and, with mixed emotions, hop in the back and hold on for dear life as he totes us down a paved road then onto a dirt road. He continues down this road, further and further into a forest. My confidence in this hostel and our driver begins to wane.
      We come to a little shack where they communicate to us that there is a tax to enter this forest, R$5 each. I reiterate that we are going to the Saiparinga Forest Hostel and "yes, yes, hostel," we must pay. We figure it's a one time fee and we will not have to pay as we go to and from the hostel later. We go further, deeper into the forest where our buggy driver stops at a sign and points down a path. We all pile out, confused and slightly terrified. We hesitantly walk down the path and behind us I hear our buggy driver start laughing and pull away. Great sign.
      At the end of the path, we come to a sort of educational center for the forest with all of 0 people in sight. We look for a sign for the Saiparinga Forest Hostel and see none. Finally a man comes out of the depths of the center and speaks to us in Portuguese. "Saiparinga Forest Hostel?" I say. A face of confusion appears on the gentleman's face. I get out my handy iPad and show him my reservation, "Saiparinga Forest Hostel?" I say again. "No. No hostel," our friend says. After some terrified glances at my friends and several seconds of confused, alarmed, panicked silence, "Um... ok. Taxi?" I manage. The man beckons us to some rooms within the center where I assume he plans on calling a taxi for us "OH, obrigada!" we all exclaim!
      He leads us into a typical forest/park educational room chock full of books and taxidermy sloths. We follow him over to a bookshelf and I slowly realize he's not calling us a taxi when he picks up a jar with a large, dead snake floating in some liquid. He begins babbling in Portuguese and the only things I understand are: the word "Anaconda,"  and his finger shaking in warning. Then he picks up another jar with another, smaller snake, babbles in Portuguese and indicates with his two fingers as fangs that these are bite-y snakes. Again he shakes his fingers in warning. "Um... Taxi?... Taxi?!" I just about shriek at the friendly park worker. He babbles a little more then does the universal sign for walking and says 2 hours. At this point my friends and I are on the point of hysteria. "TWO HOUR WALK? FOR A TAXI? YOU JUST TOLD US ABOUT SNAKES THAT CAN KILL US! WE JUST WANT A TAXI!" I calmly tell him in English. Somehow in his next babble session his 2 hour walk turns to 15 minutes up the road. We decide to take this and begin walking, unsure of what else to do.
      5 minutes into our slow walk where we are acutely aware of our surroundings and on the look out for an anaconda who might attack us at any point, our little man runs up to us and tells us to wait as he runs into a different shack with a sign "Bar" over the door, the forest bar apparently. He comes out with another man and tells us that this man can take us back into town for another R$40. After some feeble and unsuccessful negotiation attempts from us and assurance that the man has not been drinking from our friend, we agree to go with him. We are stopped again at the entrance fee shack where they refuse to give us our money back and another man tries to scam us into going on a guided tour of the forest with him for R$80. That man storms off and the Not Drunk Forest Bar Taxi Man takes us back to the town.
      We immediately search out Tom the taxi man and tell us he ripped us off and did not take us to the right place. We want to be taken to our hostel and will not pay. He is very upset and after some arguing agrees to take us himself. We pile into his car as he takes us back to the same place. We tell him this is not right, we end up calling the hostel on his phone and he gets the correct directions. 2 hours after our initial taxi ride we arrive at our hostel, which had its name changed and had not had it updated on hostelbookers.com.
       The hostel ended up being very lovely, mostly because of the owners, an older couple from Portugal. The wife spoke English and 4 other languages, and the husband spoke no English, but did speak French so we communicated through my broken French. He grew fond of us and after he picked us up later that evening from the town he shared some port, a bottle of his favorite wine, and his wife's homemade chicken with us.
        Although we were not able to do any outdoor activities because of the terrible weather (we ran through the turtle reservation in about 15 minutes, in the rain), we had quite the experience in a Brazilian forest and we made some friends. Hopefully that jarred, dead snake will be the closest I will ever be to an actual anaconda. 

Samba and Mormons

Friday night samba proved to be a blast. 3 of my friends and I went out to dinner for my friend Ryne's last night then met up with the other volunteers at a samba club down the road. The man who comes to our home base once a week to teach samba told us about the club and told us he would be us there around 830. He showed up at 11, but we were already making the most of our time! We tried our best to samba and our pathetic attempts attracted Brazilian natives; they tried desperately to help us. I was dancing with one older gentleman who was a good 6 inches shorter than I am and had a hefty beer belly. He tried his best to help my moves but I just couldn't keep up. Several of us ended up dancing with the people in his group and we soon found out that the man is a priest. A priest with moves. So we made friends and tried to improve our steps (2 steps right, 1 step left...) One guy just kept telling me "be smoother!" it was not helpful advice as I seemed incapable of doing so. The night was definitely a success, the most fun I've had here.

The next day our good friend Ryne left us so we were pretty bummed all day. We ended up going to the outdoor weekly jazz concert at the marina and enjoyed some drinks there. Sunday was another adventure of a whole different kind. My friend Karlie is a practicing Mormon and, through a confusing chain of people, two young guys on their mission in Salvador found Karlie and invited her to Sunday services. The two guys (one from Ohio who has been in Brazil for 6 months, and the other a native Brazilian) came around 9 on Sunday morning to accompany us to the church, a floor above a lottery shop. All the people there were so nice and welcoming even though only a few spoke some English. I was surprised to see so many Mormon Brazilians! Over the next three hours we met people, attended a 45 minute discussion on how to properly fast (the Ohio guy translated every once in a while), an hour long sermon type thing where several of the more important men would say some words of wisdom or read and discuss a scripture passage, then met some more people. We met one guy who went to Geoegetown and has been living in Salvador for the past two years. He teaches English and one of his students is a member of the church and brought him along. We exchanged emails and we will probably be hanging out with him outside of the Mormon church sometime soon. It was quite an interesting experience over all.

This week was a little different, work wise. Monday is a story in itself. When I arrive in the morning at my placement, the kids are usually in the middle of breakfast. Breakfast generally consists of milk with a little coffee in it accompanied by little cookies or boiled bananas or some other fruit that I'm not familiar with. Monday they each got a box drink of chocolate milk and cookies. One of my girls, Laila, didn't drink very much of her box and another girl, Jessica, asked me if she could finish it since she had already finished her own. I thought, sure, why not. Better than wasting it! I handed it over and a wave of dread passed through me: I sure hope she's not lactose intolerant, that's kind of a lot of milk. Not thirty minutes later, Lindalva was in the middle of her morning lesson (that morning she was discussing the importance of safety when setting off fireworks. I could tell by the occasional BOOOM! that she and the kids would shout out. They set off a lot of fireworks here.), when Jessica suddenly threw up the both boxes of chocolate milk on her table. A little got on poor Douglas as well. I'm pretty sure I said out loud "oh, that is definitely my fault." Lindalva and I cleaned it up and it was forgotten. Well, until little ol' Douglas was crawling on me an hour later in his chocolate vomit stained shirt.

Tuesday was a normal, hectic day, then Wednesday Vini told me that my placement would be having a party to celebrate Sao Joao (a two week festival that they celebrate here) after which they will be taking a 2 week break from school. I am pleased to hear about the party and head off to work. To my surprise the kids were not at school and only the teachers were there with some of their kids preparing for the party that afternoon. I was disappointed because I knew I wouldn't be seeing the kids for a week and a halfish, then Lindalva told me the kids don't come back until July 9th! Two days after I leave Brazil. I was pretty upset. Tuesday was my last day with the kids and I didn't even know it! I went to the party later that afternoon and was able to say goodbye to Lindalva and a few of the children but it certainly wasn't the same. The kids were distraced and didn't really understand that I was leaving. I was glad I was able to see those few nonetheless.

Thursday I began working at CAASAH, a facility that houses adults and kids affected with HIV or AIDS. It's pretty intense and disturbing, mostly on the adult side where many men have wasting disease, so some weigh less than 100 pounds and are incapacitated. There are a few adults who are pretty mobile and enjoy sitting with us drawing or whatever else. We spend at least an hour on the adult side then head over to the children's side (the adults and children do not mix or even see each other). The children are just like any other kids running and jumping on us, coloring, joking, etc. The ages range from infants (there are three baby girls that are less than a year and a half, one is less than three months old) to 17. Some of the teenagers are pretty moody just like any teenager but they tend to open up even as the morning goes on. My favorite kid is Edgar (pronounced Ed-jee-gahr). He's about 7 or 8 and is just so sweet and silly. Today we blew up water balloons (quite a task, let me tell you) and hung them up around the little playground they have. Unfortunately, they do not let us take pictures at this placement which is sad because this kid has the most ridiculously pretty amber eyes and I know already I'm going to want to remember him when I leave two weeks from tomorrow. This placement once again takes me out of my comfort zone, but I think I will grow and learn a lot from it. Tomorrow we're heading a couple hours north to a beach and hiking area! I hope to get another horse ride in!

Character Descriptions

I have finally gained access to an actual computer so today I will do a special little (maybe long) post on the characters that I deal with everyday.

Vini (Program Manager): Vini is the guy that is here at the home base every day and has arranged everyone's placements and knows each placement very well and personally. He's 36, very funny, like most people here, and is super helpful with everything- placements, ideas of what to do during the day, suggesetions of where to go in the evening, etc. I think he's great and have the slightest crush on him.

Ivan (pronounced, E-vahn, Driver): This guy is my buddy. Or at least I think he is, he may just think I'm annoying. He drives me and several others to our placements every morning in Alogadros and drives us around on our tours, picked us up from/takes us to the airport, and any other driving involved jobs. His English is pretty decent, and he learned it only from speaking with CCS volunteers. He has only worked here for 2 years. I'm impressed. He too is funny, but like I said before, this is not abnormal for these people.

Lulu (House Maid): This woman is crazy and I love her. She's a short chunky woman with a booming voice. Every evening when dinner is ready she screams up the stairs "JANTA!!!!!!!!!!!!" ("Dinner" in Portuguese) in a very obnoxious and loud voice. You sure learn to love it. She is very loving and caring and dotes on all the volunteers. She speaks no English, but communicates instead in hugs and kisses and funny little noises. Obviously, I have grown very fond of her. We don't say much to each other than "Oi. Oi oi. Oioioioioioioioi." ("Hi. Hi hi. Hihihihihihihihi.") and then we hug. She cleans, changes our sheets, washes our towels, helps with lunch and dinner, and other random things around the house.

Lindalva (Teacher): I have mentioned Lindalva before, but I thought I would again because she's just the best. She is the woman I help at Frutos de Maes. She speaks maybe a total of 20 words of English (words I've heard her say: blue, ugly, house, fat), but she communicates phenomenally in eye rolls, shoulder shrugs, and hand motions. She is really good with the kids, discipline-wise. She can really get them to behave and is strict, but you can tell they love her. They will randomly come up and hug her or hold her hand. Although, sadly, I have a theory that when certain kids are really bad and will not quit acting out, she will threaten to send them home. The kids freak out at this and will begin crying uncontrollably. But because I can't understand what she says to them I'm not really sure what she threatens them with, it may just be to send them to the director or something else. Either way it really gets them to behave.

A couple students that deserve some attention:

David (Pronounced Day-vid-jee)- I have mentioned this kid before but I have another story about him today so I thought I'd share. David is by far the most misbehaved out of all the students in my class. He is violent and aggressive, disobedient and defiant, unaffectionate, and just all around bad. Today he was bad as usual, running around like a mad man, randomly hitting kids at his convenience, and not listening to Lindalva when she tried to stop him. She took him and another disobedient boy out of the classroom and, I presume, to the director's office where she left them. A few minutes later, we all went to the room where lunch is served and the students ate their meals. After a short while I see David wandering around looking a little confused and lost and I asked him if he had eaten. He looked up at me and shook his head. I informed Lindalva and she is surprised and contrite and exlaims "Oh my God!" (a couple more English words I've heard her say), and ran to get him and the other kid food. As I handed them over their bowls of rice and beans with a dollop of some conglomeration of vegetables and mush with what I believe was liver, I really looked at David and simply saw a 4 year old who didn't get his lunch. It hit me then that behind this crazy, rascal, mean, violent kid is just a little boy who has a tough life and not enough to eat at home. I felt really guilty for being angry and fed up with him all the time. The director came up to me and told me that either he or the other one (I only understood so much) eats a lot because he doesn't have any food at his home. This was the first time the whole picture really became clear to me, and it hit me hard.

Ricalme (Pronounced Heh-cay-all-me)- By far the cutest one in the class, I love this kid. He's not necessarily very well behaved, but he is so darn cute and randomly affectionate that I forgive him his occasional acting out. I will often find him roaming the hall by himself when all the other students are in the classroom. He's generally not really doing anything, just kind of in his own little world.

This post is too long. I hope you enjoyed it. I will try to use my friend's computer more often so I can spit out some posts faster and more frequently so they're not so long. We're going to a Samba club tonight, so I should have some good stories soon!

Capirhnias and Cow Heads

Well, turns out I wasn't such a pansy for missing work last week. I tried to go to work on Tuesday and had to be picked up early. I went to the doctor that afternoon and found out I had a 103 degree fever and the doctor diagnosed me with bronchitis. I later got my blood tested and found out that I had/have a bacterial infection. I got antibiotics and a fever reducer and have been feeling a lot better. I missed 4 days of work though.

This weekend we didn't do too much. Thursday night we went for some drinks to say goodbye to two girls that were leaving. Saturday some of my friends went to a beach north of Salvador where there is a turtle reservation. I didn't know they were going until later in the week and it's a place where I want to spend a lot of time and plan a lot of activities. So my friend Karlie and I met the new people (we got 19 new volunteers!!) and walked around a little bit then went to the beach. Saturday night, our friend Tiago (pronounced Chiago) that lives here in Salvador took us to Rio Vermelho, which is a collection of restaurants that each have a whole bunch of outside seating. So we sat outside and enjoyed a few capirhnias as beers with the newbies. I was still tired and recovering so I retired fairly early.

Tuesday nights there is an outdoor festival of sorts in the neighborhood called Pelourihno. I wasn't able to go last week because of my disease, but I sure as heck went this week! And had double fun! The main square is encircled by little stands that sell capirhnias made with fresh fruit, beers, food, and other such goodies. There is also a live band and obvs plenty of room for dancing. It was a fun time, having drinks and attempting to samba.

This week at my placement was tough, but I think I'm getting better at handling myself if not the children. Every morning around 10 I think that I won't make it through the end of my seven weeks much less the day. The kids can just be so bad and it's hot and everything is so dirty and disgusting that it's hard for me to imagine that this place is a sanctuary for the kids, away from their homes which are probably in much worse conditions. The kids are so violent with each other. If something doesn't go their way they immediately hit the other kid that they're with. And hard. In the face, in the stomach, anywhere. One kid in particular is especially violent, David (pronounced David-jee). I just wonder why they are this way and what happens at home. I just found out the school will be going on a two week break later this month so I will have to pick another placement to work.

Today the program manager, Vini, took us on a little tour to an open air market. It was certainly not a tourist spot. It was a market that sells fruit, baskets, shrimp, herbs, and meat. Lots of meat. "Fresh" meat that's been sitting out all day hanging from grungy shacks with flies everywhere. I saw a cow head. There were also a lot of live animals that were sold there, chickens, doves, goats, for both eating and sacrificing. Then we got ice cream!!

Overall, the past two and a half weeks weeks have been an experience, I'm not sure I'd say it's good, necessarily, but certainly eye opening, challenging, buggy, new. But I'm glad I'm here for now. Many of my friends are leaving on Saturday so I'll let you know if I change my mind after that.

Island Adventure

So it's been over a week in Brazil and I feel pretty settled in! Thursday (my 4th day at my placement) finally felt a LITTLE easier. I believe what makes it easier is that the teacher I work with, Lindalva, is getting used to me and we are learning how to communicate (she doesn't speak any English). I think if we spoke the same language we'd be buddies, she seems like she has a great sense of humor and she is SO good with the kids. They all listen to her and seem to respect her and love her. Anyway, I am slowly finding my place there and feeling a little more helpful.

This weekend 9 of us went to an island called Morro de Sao Paulo about 2 hours (supposedly) from Salvador. Our trip there was quite rainy so we took a boat to another island, drove across that island, then took a short boat ride to Morro. The trip was long and miserable. But once we got there we checked into our beautiful hotel and hit the beach for lunch and a daiquiri. The island is very small; there are no cars on it and one road through the main town, meant for people and wheel barrows, the islands' main "mode of transportation" (ie these guys go around with wheel barrows and harass you, offering to take your bags for you. The road is lined with boutiques selling souvenirs, Brazilian bikinis and other fun stuffs. The road continues and opens up to the beach, lined with restaurants and hotels. Our hotel was amazing. There were hammocks everywhere, a pool with a swim up bar, air conditioning in the rooms and the best part- hot showers (did I tell you that there is no hot water in Salvador? Nothing like a freezing cold shower at 7 am to get your day started! Everyday!).

So we got to the island at about 1 or 2 and enjoyed ourselves for a while then all of a sudden I was struck with sickness. I was hot, delirious, light headed and just felt terrible. I tried to pretend nothing was happening and got ready for the night with the rest of my friends, but by the time we got outside and walked around for a little bit, I was much worse. I called it a night before dinner and went straight to bed where I had a raging fever for the rest of the night. I woke up feeling slightly better Saturday (the hot shower certainly helped) and we all went to the beach and sunned through the morning, staving off jewelry and food vendors every five minutes. We had a lazy day in the sun and enjoyed the food and I even went shopping to make up for the night before! The boat ride back on Sunday was much better and took the prescribed 2 hours. I sat on the back of the boat enjoying the view and the water spraying my legs from the wake of the boat.

Today I missed work because my fever came back. I feel like a pansy for missing, but another volunteer said it was probably good I didn't go because a bunch of kids were sick, some were even sent home. Friday the teachers of the school (which is named Frutos de Mães) had a meeting to discuss the future of the school. There is little to no funding, they receive part of their funds from the government but the majority comes from donations. The school is falling apart physically and many teachers have walked out since they haven't been paid in months and they need to support their own children and families. It will be interesting to see how things progress.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

So here I am in Brazil! At what we here at CCS (Cross Cultural Solutions, no doi) call the Home Base. I'll fill you in quickly on the end of Peru trip.  We ended up going back to Machu Picchu and toured around just the ruins and kind of just took in the whole scene for a while. It was a lot to take in. Also I petted a llama. Then we ventured to the museum at the bottom of the mountain and actually learned about what we just saw. Just lovely and educational.  We left Aguas Calientes pretty late and had a mean girl sitting next to us who refused to trade the exact same seat with Joey so we were seperated for like 2 hours. It was totally terrible. We made it back to Casa de Wow!! late and headed back to Cusco early in the morning. We spent some time doing some souvenir shopping then sadly bid adieu to our friend Kealan. Brooke, Joey and I played some Rummy 500, drank 2 for 1 drinks, ate food then slept our last sleep in Peru. 

It was 4 airports, 3 plane rides and about 23 hours later when I arrived excited and SO full of energy to Salvador, Brazil. I easily located the CCS driver and his most recent pick up and the three of us headed to the group's VW van in our glamorous matching t-shirts. A half an hour later, we arrive at Home Base, a 3 story building located in a middle class neighborhood known as Graça. The building has a main dining room, kitchen and 2 offices on the main floor; 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a living area on the second floor; and 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a classroom area on the third. Yes, I have to throw my toilet paper in a trashcan. Yes, I hate it. After getting over that disappointment, the home base doesn't seem that terrible. I don't get internet in my room like most people so I conduct most my business in the main living area, but this does allow for me to talk to passer-bys, ipso facto, I have made friends, SURPRISE! There are 14 other volunteers here currently, about 10 of whom started the same day as I did. My roommate is a 50-ish year old 5'1 woman named Pamela. She's nice. Everyone else is between the ages of 28 and 19. Everyone is very friendly and funny and goes with the flow so we have all been getting along. Which, by the by, is good because it hasn't stopped raining since we have arrived. When it rains in Salvador, and I might guess Brazil as a whole,things just shut down. Apparently Bahians (Salvador is located in the state of Bahia) are allergic to rain. We have been watching movies and going to the ice cream shop down the street quite a bit. A few of us are planning a trip to an island this weekend, hoping the weather will clear up. 

Today we began our volunteer work. I am working in a day care that cares for children from ages about 2 to 6 who live in an area known as Alagadros. Alagadros was once a landfill for trash on top of which people began to live and eventually developed into a community. Many people live in shacks supported on stilts that stand in trash filled waters. Today, because of the rain, many of the children could not make it to day care because the "streets" become so flooded with water, no one can get through without a boat. You would not guess from the children that these are their circumstances. They are chalk full of energy and anxious to be holding my hand, sitting in my lap or just touching/hanging on me in any way. 

When I first walked in to the somewhat run down building, the children were in the middle of their breakfast (for most children, whatever they are fed at this day care is all they will eat) and a little, silent, skinny boy walked up to me and just hugged me. My heart tuned and I thought to myself, "This is going to be a lovely and heart warming experience of cuddling and hugs and pats on the head for everyone!" I was wrong. I think that boy was set up for me to feel at ease so I wouldn't run out of the establishment in the first 5 minutes. These children are off the walls. I have been placed with the 4 year olds, old enought to speak sentences, but not quite old enough to understand that I have no idea what they're saying to me. I walk into the classroom with the 15 or so 4 year olds and they are immediately surrounding me, holding my hands, attaching to my legs, jumping on my knees. The teacher, I believe at the time, saves me from their destruction, setting them up against the wall in a line. "This is better," I think to myself, "just keep them like this." Then the teacher turns and looks at me, says something to me in Portuguese and waits. I stare at her blankly. Then she repeats herself, this time clapping, sort of humming, and pointing at me. "You want me to sing?!" she waits and claps a little more, still staring at me. I look and see the children, still lined up, staring as well.  I build up all my courage, put my index fingers to their opposite thumbs, and slowly begin the All American Favorite Tune "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Teacher and children continue their blank stares but imitate my hand motions as I feebly spit out the iconic lyrics of this brave old spider. The song ends with silence, and then an outburst as the children immediately forget what just happened. I start again, and again. Then show them Ring Around the Rosy, which we play 2-9 times. The rest of the morning was a blur of crayons, pee smelling kids sitting in my lap, Diego cartoons, and fruitless attempts of getting 4 year old boys to sit down. 

Next Day Addendum- today was a very similar day with the kids, except the regular teacher was there, laying down the law. Also, the roof in the kitchen collapsed. The rain caused flooding on the undone second floor and has just been seeping into the main floor. The bottom portion of the ceiling in the kitchen caved slightly sending plaster, mud and other ceiling materials crashing to the floor, just missing one of the employees working in there. This place is in desperate need of repairs, but there is no money to make them. 

Baby Llamas in Hats, Tobias the Horse, and Mountains

Hola, From Aguas Calientes, Peru! It hasn't yet been a week away from the States and already the adventurers have begun. Day0/1- I met up with Kealan in the Miami airport, anxious and excited for our trip to begin. We had a terrible shock when we found out that we were not on the same flight out of Miami to Lima. No matter. We separated for five hours then met back up, dazed tired and uncomfortable at 4 AM in the Lima airport. After a short flight to Cusco and a over priced cab ride to our hostel (we paid about 55 Peruvian soles [about $25] when we found out later it probably should have cost about 15 soles. Whoops.) where we met Brooke and Joey the four of us set out for food, delirious from lack of sleep and a little loopy (to say the least) from the high altitude. We feasted on bagels with various spreads and lettuce and tomatoes (side note: one of the last pieces of advice my dad gave me was "avoid fresh vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes." Sorry, Dad. I blame it on the altitude. We did not get [severely] sick). Then we walked around the town of Cusco, saw a few beautiful churches, held a baby llama in a baby llama hat (5 soles), then posted up at a pub with bloody Marys overlooking the main plaza in the town. We ended the day with some delicious Peruvian chicken. My first day in Peru was an altitude-induced-crazed, yet semi-productive day! Day 2- Brooke and Joey booked us a horseback riding trip in the Andes. Classic. After a beautiful car ride into the mountains we arrived at the place that held the horses: a random concrete slab/basketball court on the side of the mountain road. After a (maybe too) brief instruction session, we were all given our horses for the day. My horse, Tobias, and I had an instant connection. He didn't like to listen to any of my commands, but I could tell he liked me anyway. The ride was amazing to say the least. We rode the horses up through the mountains where we got off for a visit to some Incan ruins (Moray). Then after anther brief ride we stopped for a picnic of tradtional chicken and vegetables looking out at a breathtaking mountain landscape. We finally rode back down through the mountains with (somehow) an even more beautiful view. Snow peaked mountains, rolling hills, fields of green, plains of golden straw stuff. It was truly awesome. Sadly, I said goodbye to Good 'Ol Tobs (I really do think he was upset to see me go), and we were bused to a salt mine, where we saw a lot of little pools of salt. It was weird, but interesting. That night we saw some of the Cusco nightlife when we went out with our new friends from the horse tour (a group of volunteers based in Cusco). Day 3- The nightlife in Cusco got us real good. We had a late start. Kealan and I explored the town a little more before we headed off to the next town, Ollantaytambo (say it out loud. Good luck). We took a van with about 8 other people and it dropped us off in the middle of the main square in Ollanta (as the locals call it, much easier on the mouth). We checked into our hostel, Casa de Wow!! (yes, the exclamation points are part of the name), then hit up the Heart Cafe for some dinner and a cerveza (beer.). Day 4- After breakfast at Casa de Wow!!, we went to the ruins in the town to climb about and explore. We're not quite sure what the ruins were, but they were neat and old and a tour guide was not in our budget. We guessed at what they were there for which was most likely pretty accurate anyway. We then got a couple bottles of wine and jumped on the train to Aguas Calientes. The ride was scenic and the wine was... Ok. We detrained, drunk on excitement, and shopped the little souvenir stands. We finally checked in to our hostel, then decided to venture toward the town's namesake: the hot springs. We had heard mixed reviews but we figured we had to try. A lovely walk and 10 soles later, we arrive at a group if dingy pools filled with brown water and tourists. I dipped one toe in to say I did, gagged a little bit, and we were off again! We ate a lovely meal of pizza and ordered a plate of Cuy, a Peruvian delicacy- guinea pig. It came out with very intact hands. It was disgusting. I ate some. It tasted like smoked chicken. It wasn't that bad. The hands were just waving at me the whole time. Day 5- Today we woke up at the ripe hour of 4 AM to make the first bus to Machu Picchu at 530. We were early and we still ended up on the 4th bus up the mountain. Once arriving we headed for high ground to see the sun rise across from Huaynapicchu, the highest mountain peak over looking Machu Picchu. It was breathtaking. Approximately 700 pictures later, we began our journey up Huaynapicchu. What a hike it was. So many stairs. It was incredible making it to each overlook point and seeing the ruins of Machu Picchu further and further down. The views cannot be described properly, at least not by me. The mountains surrounding us on all sides were gargantuan and lush with trees and vegetation. The weather was perfect and the sky was bright blue against the green peaks, but off in the distance you could see a few white snow capped peaks. Pictures could not capture well enough the beauty. And then you would look below and see the ruins of this nearly ancient town, still thousands of feet up, on the side of this mountain. I couldn't stop saying "wow". Every view was picture worthy, then you would snap a picture and want to take another because you just couldn't capture it perfectly. Truly amazing. We then made the mistake of going the long way back, which led us down to another ruin then basically back up the mountain again and finally down. The whole hike was about 4 hours and now my legs hurt. We did a little more exploring around the ruins until we decided we needed another day (and a nap) so we headed back to Aguas Calientes for food and some sleep. A few more days in Peru and then I'm off to Brazil on my own! My only hope is that I don't have to throw the toilet paper in a trash can in when I get there. It is disgusting and the worst. I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!