Christmas in Brasil
..what an interesting holiday it was.
since the beginning of november, theree has beeen christmas decorations like this was the north pole which troubled me because before christmas, its always thanksgiving but considering this isnt north america, they skipped straight to natal.
it never felt like christmas to me; no snow, no snow days, no snow angels, no hot chocolate, no sledding, no christmas caroling, no sneaking into my parents room to have a litttle peak..
instead, it was replaced by bikkinis, swimming everyday, sweating like i have never before, going to the beach and seeing one of the most beauitful cities ever, hearing american christmas music in stores and finding all of this rather oddd
in my family, cant speak for every family in brasil, we had a big dinnner late on christmas eve night, gathering at 9pm, eating at 12, leaving at 3am; woke up to open presents on christmas morning with my family then had a small lunch on christmas day with everyone from the night before.
dia 24 de dezembro:
around 25 people on my mothers side of my family gathered at my grandmas house to have dinner. it was catered, meaning we had a full-on service of a waitor &alll. it was niceeee :D
before dinner, we played white elephant and i actually got a sweet present, cosisas de bahia !
then my 8yr old cousin, marie vitora, said, "everyone, i would like to sing you a song."
she started singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" in english and then translating it for everyone in portuguese.
it was the sweetest thing everrrr
then my mom started to play the piano, Silent Night & Night in Bethlehem.
Right then and there, i started struggling to be there.
I dont know if it was the music or if because i am a girl therefore emotional, i just wanted to be back in Pa, just for one night.
in my head, i was having a full on argument with myself, trying to stay positive &failing.
positive: come on, ariana, youre fine, relax, breathe, everything is all right.
negative: no it's not all right! i dont want to be here right now. who am i kiddding, i dont know these people?
positive: yes, you do. they're your family and you just neeed to get through this and you will be just fine, be strong.
negative: shuttup, i wanna be in pennsylvania. i wanna be with my grandparents, eating grandma judys sweet potatoes and getting a card from uncle norman without his name in it and exchanging presents with my cousins. i cant do this.
positive: no, you shutup. you only have one christmas in brasil, enjoy it! next year, youre going to be wishing you were in brasil rather than Pa.
guess who won the argument?
the negative side, ofcourse.
i started crying, getting emotional and irrational. im the kinda person who hates when people see me cry so i quietly went to the bathrooom to have a moment to just let it all out.
my brother, being the bestbrother in the world, saw my eyes get red and came looking after me, trying to comfort. he did and i love him for that.
we had dinner, salmon, steak, chicken, potatoes, and ooh who could forget the rice&beans!
it was reallly goood foood :D
Dia 25 de Dezembro:
since we came home so late the previous night and none of us are under the age of 10, we woke up at the beauitful hour of 10am, had breakfast and went to open presents. i got a lot of things, a lot of special things and it was reallly speical time with my family. since my presents that my parents where sending me from Pa didnt arrive on time, i wrote them a card (in português) and they looked so touched :D my sister even got a car ! wowowow
we went to my grandmas for a late lunch that was left overs from the previous evening, everyone showed off their presents and we just hung out all day long.
so even though it wasnt a white christmas and even though i misssed my family so much, i had a christmas in brasil, a christmas that i will never forget..
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
sorriso, vc está em bahia :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro (continued)
friday night we had tickets to this axé show, a type of brasileria music.
before i went to the show, i was anticipating crazy loud drums, live dancers that know how to shake their hipps, a beauitful singer that is sweating like no other because she is going crazy with energy, and a crowd full of people dancing.
thats excatly what it was.
it was awesome.
and after the show, we even got to meet the singer :D i felt so special !
i love when my family or friends introduce me to people, they always say with such pride, yeah, this is my american daughter/sister/niece/friend.
and i love the reactions of people: people are either overwhelmed and so excited that they are talking to someone other than brasilerios, and start asking a million and three questions about me and how they know someone who had a daughter that had a bestfriend that lived in the US. thats typically the response. or there are always the people that are liek, sweet, dont care.
Dia 18 de Dezembro:
Saturday morning, the girls woke up early to go to the beach :D
i was reallllllllly excited.
because we are in the north of brasil, the waters are supposed to be realllllly warm. after cabo frio, the coldest waters of brasil, i was reallllly excited to seee how warm this was.
it was the most perfect temperture for water. wasnt too hottt, wasnt tooo cold. was justttt right :D
being the tri-state swimmer that i am, i ofcourse got in the water while everyone else stayed under the umbrella to avoid the bleaming rays of the sun. i made friends with a dad and his 4year old daughter."made friends" meaning we secretly had an agreement that if i got took under by the current, he would pulll me out. there arent any lifeguards on the beaches here, atleast none of the ones i have beeen at, therefore you bettter be careful. there was a gooood couple times where i found my bottoms around my ankles and my top, i dont even know what happened. i was getttting wrecked. BUT IT WAS SO FUNNN. and i could stay in forever cause the water was warm :D
after lunch, i was so tired for swimming and the sun, i toook a nice long nap until i was awoken around 930, saying that we were going out to dinner. it being brasil, we didnt leave the house until 11 where we went to this wonderful japanese resturant, had sushi again, i LOVE it so much.
Dia 19 de Dezmbro:
Sunday was spent by the poool because alll the girls wanted to work on our tans. my family has a big beauitful poool with a fountain and so i stayed in it allll day long.
they said we were going out for lunch that day (everyone usually goes out for lunch on sunday cause no one wants to cook) and so i was thinking we would have a late lunch at 2, the latest at 3pm ..we didnt eat until 5pm.
i was straving and not feeeeling so goood cause i neeeded to get food in my stomach so when we went in the resturant i was like, give me alll the fooood you have, now!
it was a self-service restuarnt where its kinda like a buffet but you weight it by the plate. so you could go up the the buffet which i went nuts cause it was alllll seafooood and then when i got back, there were people that kept circling that tables, with huge legs of meat, asking if you wanted to have any. literallly a leg of meat in your face, they had a carving knife and would slice it on your plate. they also would just start bringing us fish and rice and beans (ofcourse) and frenchfries, i was like, did we even ask for any of this cause i definatly didnt hear anyone ask for it. i asked for orange juice and they gave pitcher, just for me. it was so weird but let me say, i ate alot
Dia 20 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we went to a huge malll for some major shopping. the shopping in my city, which i go to on a weeekly bases to hangout because it is a walking distance from my house, is pathtic compared to this malll. it was huge and overly expensive and fabulous. because its so hott here, i usually just throw on a summer dress everyday cause its easier that way so i bought 3beauitful dresses and they were surprisingly cheap (clothes here are so expensive, i considered buying a dress for R$200, 100dollars, cause i was desperate hah)
we also went into a book store and i was kinda annoyed cause i wanted to see a barnes & nobles where i could smell the fresh-ness of newly printed ink of english words, not some português novels. BUT i found a whole aisle of english books.
i was in heaven.
i wanted to buy everything in sight, wanted to go nuts. i wondered the aisle atleast 20times, just touching all the boooks, smiling all over, until my grandfather said it was time to go. i could have (wanted to) stay there all day.
Dia 21 de Dezembro:
you know on the last day of vacation, where you are sad & happy.
youre excited to get home, tell everyone all your stories of vacation, show offf your new tann, and send out all your postcards.
but youre sad cause you dont want to leave the place that you just staying loving even more than your own home?
thats how i felt on my last day in Salvador.
my grandfather asked me what i wanted to do on my last day in the city.
i wanted to to go the beach again :D
we spent the morning on the beach, drinking coconut water, getting sunburn, and having my bikinni bottoms riped from my body. good time !
our flight was at 9 so we left around 6. again, we went from a taxi, to a plane, to a bus, to a car.
even though we didnt get outta the airport until midnight, my father insisted that we go straight home from BH, a three & a half hour drive, one of the worst drives ever, in the history of drives. i just wanted to sleeeep so.freaking.bad but as everyone knows, the drive from BH to Ipatinga is wheree your head bangs against the window every time you JUST fall asleeep.
lets just say when i got home, i slept until noon.
next post: christmas in brasil ! unusual event..
friday night we had tickets to this axé show, a type of brasileria music.
before i went to the show, i was anticipating crazy loud drums, live dancers that know how to shake their hipps, a beauitful singer that is sweating like no other because she is going crazy with energy, and a crowd full of people dancing.
thats excatly what it was.
it was awesome.
and after the show, we even got to meet the singer :D i felt so special !
i love when my family or friends introduce me to people, they always say with such pride, yeah, this is my american daughter/sister/niece/friend.
and i love the reactions of people: people are either overwhelmed and so excited that they are talking to someone other than brasilerios, and start asking a million and three questions about me and how they know someone who had a daughter that had a bestfriend that lived in the US. thats typically the response. or there are always the people that are liek, sweet, dont care.
Dia 18 de Dezembro:
Saturday morning, the girls woke up early to go to the beach :D
i was reallllllllly excited.
because we are in the north of brasil, the waters are supposed to be realllllly warm. after cabo frio, the coldest waters of brasil, i was reallllly excited to seee how warm this was.
it was the most perfect temperture for water. wasnt too hottt, wasnt tooo cold. was justttt right :D
being the tri-state swimmer that i am, i ofcourse got in the water while everyone else stayed under the umbrella to avoid the bleaming rays of the sun. i made friends with a dad and his 4year old daughter."made friends" meaning we secretly had an agreement that if i got took under by the current, he would pulll me out. there arent any lifeguards on the beaches here, atleast none of the ones i have beeen at, therefore you bettter be careful. there was a gooood couple times where i found my bottoms around my ankles and my top, i dont even know what happened. i was getttting wrecked. BUT IT WAS SO FUNNN. and i could stay in forever cause the water was warm :D
after lunch, i was so tired for swimming and the sun, i toook a nice long nap until i was awoken around 930, saying that we were going out to dinner. it being brasil, we didnt leave the house until 11 where we went to this wonderful japanese resturant, had sushi again, i LOVE it so much.
Dia 19 de Dezmbro:
Sunday was spent by the poool because alll the girls wanted to work on our tans. my family has a big beauitful poool with a fountain and so i stayed in it allll day long.
they said we were going out for lunch that day (everyone usually goes out for lunch on sunday cause no one wants to cook) and so i was thinking we would have a late lunch at 2, the latest at 3pm ..we didnt eat until 5pm.
i was straving and not feeeeling so goood cause i neeeded to get food in my stomach so when we went in the resturant i was like, give me alll the fooood you have, now!
it was a self-service restuarnt where its kinda like a buffet but you weight it by the plate. so you could go up the the buffet which i went nuts cause it was alllll seafooood and then when i got back, there were people that kept circling that tables, with huge legs of meat, asking if you wanted to have any. literallly a leg of meat in your face, they had a carving knife and would slice it on your plate. they also would just start bringing us fish and rice and beans (ofcourse) and frenchfries, i was like, did we even ask for any of this cause i definatly didnt hear anyone ask for it. i asked for orange juice and they gave pitcher, just for me. it was so weird but let me say, i ate alot
Dia 20 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we went to a huge malll for some major shopping. the shopping in my city, which i go to on a weeekly bases to hangout because it is a walking distance from my house, is pathtic compared to this malll. it was huge and overly expensive and fabulous. because its so hott here, i usually just throw on a summer dress everyday cause its easier that way so i bought 3beauitful dresses and they were surprisingly cheap (clothes here are so expensive, i considered buying a dress for R$200, 100dollars, cause i was desperate hah)
we also went into a book store and i was kinda annoyed cause i wanted to see a barnes & nobles where i could smell the fresh-ness of newly printed ink of english words, not some português novels. BUT i found a whole aisle of english books.
i was in heaven.
i wanted to buy everything in sight, wanted to go nuts. i wondered the aisle atleast 20times, just touching all the boooks, smiling all over, until my grandfather said it was time to go. i could have (wanted to) stay there all day.
Dia 21 de Dezembro:
you know on the last day of vacation, where you are sad & happy.
youre excited to get home, tell everyone all your stories of vacation, show offf your new tann, and send out all your postcards.
but youre sad cause you dont want to leave the place that you just staying loving even more than your own home?
thats how i felt on my last day in Salvador.
my grandfather asked me what i wanted to do on my last day in the city.
i wanted to to go the beach again :D
we spent the morning on the beach, drinking coconut water, getting sunburn, and having my bikinni bottoms riped from my body. good time !
our flight was at 9 so we left around 6. again, we went from a taxi, to a plane, to a bus, to a car.
even though we didnt get outta the airport until midnight, my father insisted that we go straight home from BH, a three & a half hour drive, one of the worst drives ever, in the history of drives. i just wanted to sleeeep so.freaking.bad but as everyone knows, the drive from BH to Ipatinga is wheree your head bangs against the window every time you JUST fall asleeep.
lets just say when i got home, i slept until noon.
next post: christmas in brasil ! unusual event..
Friday, December 24, 2010
salvador, bahia :D
lifes crazy, sorrry for the delay.
again, going to divide my time in salvador into many parts.
here we go:
Dia 15 de Dezembro:
Awoke early to travel to BH, slept most of the time except when my head would be slammed against the window.
when we arrived, we met up with my sister who would be going to salvador with me, just me and her :D we had lunch and wondered through the huge and riduclously expensive mall. our flight wasnt until 10pm so we chilled in her apartment after my mom left. Amalia went to US this summer for a month just to pass through, staying in Chicago & Michigan. she showed me her beauitful photos, just having some sister bonding time :D
the airport is really annoying for me. i have to travel 3hrs from ipatinga to BH. then you have to take a taxi in the city to the bus station. from the bus station, takes you another 50min to actually get to the airport.
chato. bagunça.
chilled in the airport, had a snack of pao de queijo (classic snack of "cheese bread" of MG) all the flights were delayed cause of the hoildays and cause it poured down rain, so we had to wait and wait and wait.
eventually we did get on our flight and it took another hour and a half to get Salvador, Bahia.
after all this traveling, i realized how much i LOVE to travel. you think i should already know this, ariana you travel all the time when youre in Brasil, you TRAVELED to brasil. but i realized i LOVE it so much.
i love the overpacking cause you dont know what you want to wear each day; i love falling asleeep on the long car rides, listening to my ipod; i love getting a taxi and literally flying around the city, unless we are stuck in traffic; i love going through secruity in the airport, afraid that i accidentally have a pocket knife in my pocket like Dad had when we went in the empire state building, remember?; i love being placed next to some random person on the plane and feeeling as if they became like a father figure to me; i love the fear of losing your luggage but the fear instantly dissapears when you see it turning the corner.
i love traveling.
anyway, we got into Salvador, 12midnight there time but it is an hour different so my body thought it was 1am so alll i wanted was a bed, soon.
we were staying with my mother's brother, his wife and daughter. i feeel completely horrible but cant remember their names cause they are really unusual names,and i just called them, Tio, Tia, Menina (uncle, aunt, girl which is okay here haha)
Dia 16 de Dezembro:
i wake up in the morning, completely lost: where am i, who am i with, what time it is, what am i doing here.
then i remember i am in salvador, bahia.
i'm awake now, no time for sleep.
i roll out of bed and wonder through the house, trying to find my family.
there are around 20workers throughout the house, because my family is redoing their house, making it even more huge.
jim allison can tell you, that after a rough night of sleeep, i am not looking presentable, at all, and there they are, 20men, saying, ooh ola bom dia.
..maybe i should go change and take a shower?
my grandfather comes over and takes my sister, my cousin and i around the city, showing us everything.
little info about Salvador, Bahia:
Bahia is in the north of Brasil, one state above me (MG) Salvador is the captial city of Bahia, on the coast, therefore huge, beauitful and full of history. when portugal settled in brasil, they brought over many slaves from africa therefore more than half of the population is of african descent. you can tell who are the tourist or foreigners cause if you are white, you are not of Bahia.
we are driving through the city and i am just falling in love little by litttle
we stop the car and my grandfather says, okay get out, we are gonna eat some food of Bahia.
just picture the south of US, african americans who love fried food, in brasil cause that excatly what is was. i think it was ground up beans that were fried then they threw some spicy flavor then shrimp. dont know but i liked it.. knda.
ooh and Bahia LOVES spicy foood. they ask you if you want it hot or cold, meaning do you wannt to live afterwards cause of the spicy-ness or would you like to experience the flames of Bahia in your mouth.
we went to this lake people, still today, wash their clothes in the water, old fashion way. and where people swimm in, even though my grandfather said there were SNAKES !
we went to a few musems, some lighthouses, all taking wayy too many pictures, trying to capture the culture of Salvador.
we drive and drive and i fell asleeep a litttle (i realized now that i can fall asleeep WHEREVER)
that night we went out to this hotspot in town having a nice late night dinner (it was 11when we sat down, 12 when we actually ate) i had this delicious shrimp wrap ..seafood :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we headed out to this market where they sell classic things from bahia, where i bought everyone presents :D
we then went to the "upper half of brasil" where it's all the history. we had to take this elevador up to the top and i thought of when we went to Pittsburg this summer and went up the incline, one of the hottest day of the year in PA (that was NOTHNG compared to brasil, nothing) and everyone was struggling to breathe.
the elevador took us up and we walked out into this courtyard with historical homes and buildings. it looked like i walked into europe. we walked through narrow streets of stone, betweeen shops, between churches. it was so beauitful !
we wondered into this church and somehow got a grand tour of it alll. it had a courtyaard that had beauitful blue handpainted artwork of stories of the bible on the walls. then we went inside.
my mouth is still open in amazement.
i have NEVER seen something so beauitful, more beauitful than Leo Dicaprio.
every.single.inch of the church was in gold. everywhere you loooked, it had gold. i feeel like i neeed to find other words than beauitful but seriously, it was BEAUITFUL.
it almost had TOO much gold, like they went OVERBOARD. but you cant really go overboard when you are creating God's House.
I've decided that i am gettting married in this church. I dont care what my husband says or that it was a catholic church and i am not catholic, when i saw that church, i knew, i KNEW that i would have my wedding ceremony there :D
to be continueddd..
again, going to divide my time in salvador into many parts.
here we go:
Dia 15 de Dezembro:
Awoke early to travel to BH, slept most of the time except when my head would be slammed against the window.
when we arrived, we met up with my sister who would be going to salvador with me, just me and her :D we had lunch and wondered through the huge and riduclously expensive mall. our flight wasnt until 10pm so we chilled in her apartment after my mom left. Amalia went to US this summer for a month just to pass through, staying in Chicago & Michigan. she showed me her beauitful photos, just having some sister bonding time :D
the airport is really annoying for me. i have to travel 3hrs from ipatinga to BH. then you have to take a taxi in the city to the bus station. from the bus station, takes you another 50min to actually get to the airport.
chato. bagunça.
chilled in the airport, had a snack of pao de queijo (classic snack of "cheese bread" of MG) all the flights were delayed cause of the hoildays and cause it poured down rain, so we had to wait and wait and wait.
eventually we did get on our flight and it took another hour and a half to get Salvador, Bahia.
after all this traveling, i realized how much i LOVE to travel. you think i should already know this, ariana you travel all the time when youre in Brasil, you TRAVELED to brasil. but i realized i LOVE it so much.
i love the overpacking cause you dont know what you want to wear each day; i love falling asleeep on the long car rides, listening to my ipod; i love getting a taxi and literally flying around the city, unless we are stuck in traffic; i love going through secruity in the airport, afraid that i accidentally have a pocket knife in my pocket like Dad had when we went in the empire state building, remember?; i love being placed next to some random person on the plane and feeeling as if they became like a father figure to me; i love the fear of losing your luggage but the fear instantly dissapears when you see it turning the corner.
i love traveling.
anyway, we got into Salvador, 12midnight there time but it is an hour different so my body thought it was 1am so alll i wanted was a bed, soon.
we were staying with my mother's brother, his wife and daughter. i feeel completely horrible but cant remember their names cause they are really unusual names,and i just called them, Tio, Tia, Menina (uncle, aunt, girl which is okay here haha)
Dia 16 de Dezembro:
i wake up in the morning, completely lost: where am i, who am i with, what time it is, what am i doing here.
then i remember i am in salvador, bahia.
i'm awake now, no time for sleep.
i roll out of bed and wonder through the house, trying to find my family.
there are around 20workers throughout the house, because my family is redoing their house, making it even more huge.
jim allison can tell you, that after a rough night of sleeep, i am not looking presentable, at all, and there they are, 20men, saying, ooh ola bom dia.
..maybe i should go change and take a shower?
my grandfather comes over and takes my sister, my cousin and i around the city, showing us everything.
little info about Salvador, Bahia:
Bahia is in the north of Brasil, one state above me (MG) Salvador is the captial city of Bahia, on the coast, therefore huge, beauitful and full of history. when portugal settled in brasil, they brought over many slaves from africa therefore more than half of the population is of african descent. you can tell who are the tourist or foreigners cause if you are white, you are not of Bahia.
we are driving through the city and i am just falling in love little by litttle
we stop the car and my grandfather says, okay get out, we are gonna eat some food of Bahia.
just picture the south of US, african americans who love fried food, in brasil cause that excatly what is was. i think it was ground up beans that were fried then they threw some spicy flavor then shrimp. dont know but i liked it.. knda.
ooh and Bahia LOVES spicy foood. they ask you if you want it hot or cold, meaning do you wannt to live afterwards cause of the spicy-ness or would you like to experience the flames of Bahia in your mouth.
we went to this lake people, still today, wash their clothes in the water, old fashion way. and where people swimm in, even though my grandfather said there were SNAKES !
we went to a few musems, some lighthouses, all taking wayy too many pictures, trying to capture the culture of Salvador.
we drive and drive and i fell asleeep a litttle (i realized now that i can fall asleeep WHEREVER)
that night we went out to this hotspot in town having a nice late night dinner (it was 11when we sat down, 12 when we actually ate) i had this delicious shrimp wrap ..seafood :D
Dia 17 de Dezembro:
after lunch, we headed out to this market where they sell classic things from bahia, where i bought everyone presents :D
we then went to the "upper half of brasil" where it's all the history. we had to take this elevador up to the top and i thought of when we went to Pittsburg this summer and went up the incline, one of the hottest day of the year in PA (that was NOTHNG compared to brasil, nothing) and everyone was struggling to breathe.
the elevador took us up and we walked out into this courtyard with historical homes and buildings. it looked like i walked into europe. we walked through narrow streets of stone, betweeen shops, between churches. it was so beauitful !
we wondered into this church and somehow got a grand tour of it alll. it had a courtyaard that had beauitful blue handpainted artwork of stories of the bible on the walls. then we went inside.
my mouth is still open in amazement.
i have NEVER seen something so beauitful, more beauitful than Leo Dicaprio.
every.single.inch of the church was in gold. everywhere you loooked, it had gold. i feeel like i neeed to find other words than beauitful but seriously, it was BEAUITFUL.
it almost had TOO much gold, like they went OVERBOARD. but you cant really go overboard when you are creating God's House.
I've decided that i am gettting married in this church. I dont care what my husband says or that it was a catholic church and i am not catholic, when i saw that church, i knew, i KNEW that i would have my wedding ceremony there :D
to be continueddd..
Monday, December 13, 2010
activities*
while everyone else fills their afternoons studying for tests, preparing for the Vestibular, I have other activities that i do to fill my time.
Tennis:
as you all know, my first family was really into sports so they gave me the opportunity to take tennis lessons. ive always had this secret desire to learn tennis so i was reallly excited.
i have lessons once or twice a wk and i always look forward to them (which isnt ususally something common for me in the sports department, ive always dreaded going to practice and sweating) I have my own litttle cute skirt and racket which i find adorable.
my professor is the nicest man. he is really curious about me, constantly asking me questions about the US, a land he has never seen, only on TV. his questions always leave me baffled, "whats the biggest difference that you first noticed in brasil?" "do you think that teenagers are different in the US?" and he is reallly amazed at how cold it gets in PA, coming from someone who has never seen snow in his life before except (again) on TV
tennis is something that i want to keep with and maybe challenge haley deli when i get back ;D
Dance:
in my current family, my mom takes dance lessons and also gave me the opportunity to take sumba and forró classes. ive always had this secret desire to be a prima balleria in preschool but obviously that never happened so i was thrilled when i had my first lesson. i take sumba and forró lessons.
sumba is all about your hips and fast feet work
forró ( a dance from the north of brasil that means a dance "for all") is more about your relaxed shoulders and lots of twirling. i like forró most :D
my professor is ver patient with me and my two left feeet but i love it so much. it makes me feeel so brasileria, beauitful and sexy and confident.
hopefully i learn enough to be able to teach everyone back home how to dança
Swimming:
i am really fortunate in this family that i have a pool to visit on a daily bases because, yess i do go to the pool everyday. it is so hottt here that if i didnt have a pool i would probably dig myself my own pool and just sit, trying to escape the heat.
my grandma, who lives just up the road, has a pool. so everyday after lunch, i call her and ask the question, "posso nadar hoje, avó?"
everyone thinks that i am crazy cause i swimm so much. i am growing fins and becoming a mermaid. its okay, i love it.
i swimm, i read, i listen to my music, i just relax and take in the delicious strong sun of brasil.
this post has kinda been boring, sorry but dont worry,
i am leaving wednesday for the beach, Salandor, Bahia, so after 21st of December be ready for lots of more interesting postsss.
p.s i have sweat on my upper lip
everyone back home has turltenecks &longuderwear on
haah
Tennis:
as you all know, my first family was really into sports so they gave me the opportunity to take tennis lessons. ive always had this secret desire to learn tennis so i was reallly excited.
i have lessons once or twice a wk and i always look forward to them (which isnt ususally something common for me in the sports department, ive always dreaded going to practice and sweating) I have my own litttle cute skirt and racket which i find adorable.
my professor is the nicest man. he is really curious about me, constantly asking me questions about the US, a land he has never seen, only on TV. his questions always leave me baffled, "whats the biggest difference that you first noticed in brasil?" "do you think that teenagers are different in the US?" and he is reallly amazed at how cold it gets in PA, coming from someone who has never seen snow in his life before except (again) on TV
tennis is something that i want to keep with and maybe challenge haley deli when i get back ;D
Dance:
in my current family, my mom takes dance lessons and also gave me the opportunity to take sumba and forró classes. ive always had this secret desire to be a prima balleria in preschool but obviously that never happened so i was thrilled when i had my first lesson. i take sumba and forró lessons.
sumba is all about your hips and fast feet work
forró ( a dance from the north of brasil that means a dance "for all") is more about your relaxed shoulders and lots of twirling. i like forró most :D
my professor is ver patient with me and my two left feeet but i love it so much. it makes me feeel so brasileria, beauitful and sexy and confident.
hopefully i learn enough to be able to teach everyone back home how to dança
Swimming:
i am really fortunate in this family that i have a pool to visit on a daily bases because, yess i do go to the pool everyday. it is so hottt here that if i didnt have a pool i would probably dig myself my own pool and just sit, trying to escape the heat.
my grandma, who lives just up the road, has a pool. so everyday after lunch, i call her and ask the question, "posso nadar hoje, avó?"
everyone thinks that i am crazy cause i swimm so much. i am growing fins and becoming a mermaid. its okay, i love it.
i swimm, i read, i listen to my music, i just relax and take in the delicious strong sun of brasil.
this post has kinda been boring, sorry but dont worry,
i am leaving wednesday for the beach, Salandor, Bahia, so after 21st of December be ready for lots of more interesting postsss.
p.s i have sweat on my upper lip
everyone back home has turltenecks &longuderwear on
haah
Monday, December 6, 2010
ônibus
because i can't drive here (a tragedy that i miss terribly) i have to rely more on the busing system here. which as you are about to find out, is an adventure in itself.
i remember the very first time i took the bus with the brother (it was my third day in Brasil) and i literally thought i was going to throw up everywhere. from the typical driving style of brasilerios and from the constant stopping and going, i had to switch seats with him so that i could put my head out the window, just in case..
after some time in Brasil, I wanted to learn how to take the bus, alone. I have friends in the other cities, Timoteo & Coronel Fabriciano, so i wanted to take the bus whenever i wanted to so i could visit. my wonderful mother Flavia helped me, looking on the internet for the timing schedule and waiting with me at the stop. she would write down what i should say to the man who collects the money so that he would help me get off at the right stop. I was suppose to say this to the man, read it maybe, but instead, being shy at my new-found love of português, i would just hand the man the paper, with a sheepish look on my face and say, sorry but i dont really speak português.
after getting used to the system, i started taking the bus more and more.
once, when i was going to Timoteo, i was sitting at the busstop, waiting and waiting (i forgot to tell you but brasilerios are ALWAYS late, everyone is always late) i had been sitting there for atleast 15min. i turned my head for literally 2seconds and i see a bus flash by, on the front reading, "Ipatinga - Timoteo" Thats my bus! I start running, flagging my arms up and down, looking like a moron, thinking, "please please please stop for me because the next one doesnt come for the next 2hours." ofcourse it stops for me and i stumble onto the bus, out of breathe, and just say over and over, "obrigada, obrigada!" (thankyou thankyou.)
another time, i was in Fabriciano late at night and realized i should probably start going home. i needed to take two buses, one from clare's house to the Center then from the Center to Ipatinga. I was fine when i was on the bus but i didnt exactly know where i was suppose to get off at so i was slightly nervous. i saw this one girl get off, so guess what, i got off too hah. not knowing where the next bus stop is, i start panicking. i am sweating and have no idea where to go. i call clare, she isnt answering. i try my brother but he is in class. its dark out, late at night, and i am not in a good part of town. i'm slightly scared (i guess this isnt something you should be telling your mom, huh?)
i need to ask someone for help. if i ask a man ..well that just isnt a good idea. i see this women walking, obviously working out. i say in my best português possible, "can you please help me, im lost." she ofcourse helps me and leds me to the busstop, talking and congraduating me on my fine português. i wanted to ask her for a picture and maybe her address because i know grandma judy and aunt lou would like to see this women and maybe send her a thankyou card for helping out their favorite granddaughter.
i know that taking the bus is part of this crazy experience and i just roll along with it and always laugh at what always happenes to me..
i remember the very first time i took the bus with the brother (it was my third day in Brasil) and i literally thought i was going to throw up everywhere. from the typical driving style of brasilerios and from the constant stopping and going, i had to switch seats with him so that i could put my head out the window, just in case..
after some time in Brasil, I wanted to learn how to take the bus, alone. I have friends in the other cities, Timoteo & Coronel Fabriciano, so i wanted to take the bus whenever i wanted to so i could visit. my wonderful mother Flavia helped me, looking on the internet for the timing schedule and waiting with me at the stop. she would write down what i should say to the man who collects the money so that he would help me get off at the right stop. I was suppose to say this to the man, read it maybe, but instead, being shy at my new-found love of português, i would just hand the man the paper, with a sheepish look on my face and say, sorry but i dont really speak português.
after getting used to the system, i started taking the bus more and more.
once, when i was going to Timoteo, i was sitting at the busstop, waiting and waiting (i forgot to tell you but brasilerios are ALWAYS late, everyone is always late) i had been sitting there for atleast 15min. i turned my head for literally 2seconds and i see a bus flash by, on the front reading, "Ipatinga - Timoteo" Thats my bus! I start running, flagging my arms up and down, looking like a moron, thinking, "please please please stop for me because the next one doesnt come for the next 2hours." ofcourse it stops for me and i stumble onto the bus, out of breathe, and just say over and over, "obrigada, obrigada!" (thankyou thankyou.)
another time, i was in Fabriciano late at night and realized i should probably start going home. i needed to take two buses, one from clare's house to the Center then from the Center to Ipatinga. I was fine when i was on the bus but i didnt exactly know where i was suppose to get off at so i was slightly nervous. i saw this one girl get off, so guess what, i got off too hah. not knowing where the next bus stop is, i start panicking. i am sweating and have no idea where to go. i call clare, she isnt answering. i try my brother but he is in class. its dark out, late at night, and i am not in a good part of town. i'm slightly scared (i guess this isnt something you should be telling your mom, huh?)
i need to ask someone for help. if i ask a man ..well that just isnt a good idea. i see this women walking, obviously working out. i say in my best português possible, "can you please help me, im lost." she ofcourse helps me and leds me to the busstop, talking and congraduating me on my fine português. i wanted to ask her for a picture and maybe her address because i know grandma judy and aunt lou would like to see this women and maybe send her a thankyou card for helping out their favorite granddaughter.
i know that taking the bus is part of this crazy experience and i just roll along with it and always laugh at what always happenes to me..
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
one of the boys.
in the past month, i have beeen doing some activities that made me think, "man, i'm a dude!"
my current family loves to go jeeeeping. jeeeping is basicallly taking a jeeep on "paths" (no, they are not paths, you make your own) and explore places that you cannt normallly seee with a car. we climbed the mountains in coronel fabriciano, me being thrown around in the backseat, seeeing alll of Vale de Aço and eventuallly stopping to hike through nature (yes, i did think about getting attack by anacondas again. its always on my mind here) we went to a waterfalll, hiddden by the treees and would have gone unnoticed if it wasnt for the crashing water. when we got close, i looked to my dad and said with a huge grin on my face, "can i go under the fallls?"
"oooh ofcourse!"
i threw offf my shoes and ran under the falllls, running and dancing around, soaking up the energy that radiated from the waterfalll.
afterwards, i was dripping wet, dirt everywhere, smellling of lake water, leaves interlocked in my hair, and a huge SMILE acrosss my face. :D just being one of the boyss..
my next family is reallly into shoting guns so they invited me to this special clube here where you practice shoting at targets. i've never shot a gun before in my life so i was prettty excited to shot at litttle targets, and so was my father and brother. they had 3 or 4 diffferent types of guns and they kept kinda throwing them at me, "here, try this one. ooh here's another one, try it. youre doing great, ariana, again!" and i was doing prettty goood (according to myself) for someone who has never touched a gun before. i hit probably a goood 10 targets !
*sidenote: people dont hunt animals here. because of their love for animals and the Amazon, it just doesnt happen (which i find funnny cause where i'm from, EVERYONE hunts.) theres a joke here that if you shot a person, youll go to trail for it and such. but if you shot an animal, youre going to jail.
just being one of the boyss..
my last family invited me to go repealing down a waterfalll with them for my brothers birthday.
ofcourse i said yes. who can say that they have ever repealed down a waterfalll before?
we traveled outside of the city, through more dirt roads that eventually just lead to dirt where we had to walk another km to our waterfalll. the view was absolutley out of this world! i wanted to camp there and just spend hours and hours just loooking at the surrounding mountains and valleys and other waterfallls and greeeen forests. so beauitful!
while the repeal team set up the equitment me and the boys explored the area, climbing down to the base of the waterfalll. everyone is fallling on their buttts cause of the wet rocks. it was one after the other after the other after the other, just EVERYONE is falling on their butts and we are laughing like its the funniest thing in the world. then its my turn and im thinking, "i'm not gonna falll." i hit the ground so hard,
so we are splashing at the base of the falll, its deeep enough to swim so we are just swimming around in our clothes. we got out to have a litttle snack and we were dry within 20min because the sun is THAT powerful here. we had lunch at the top of the waterfalll. who can say that they had a picnic on a waterfalll? it was so peacefull and relaxing.
we watched one group of 3 repeal down the falll and i'm thinking, "man this loooks awesome! and easy"
it was one of the most challenging, grueling, difficult things i have ever down in my entire life. and i am dead serious.
the waterfalll was set up kinda in 3steps, one was not in the water, the second just your feeet would be gettting wet and the third step youre whole body would be submerged in the gushing water.
my arm is aching, my leg is cramping up, my glove is fallling offf, my back is hurting, i'm getting commands yellled at in português that i can barely hear, i'm slipping everywhere on the rocks, my leg is bleeeding blood cause i wacked it offf the rock, we are screaming out our energy, im yellling out my pain. now the water is gushing over my face and i can barely seeee and breathe. i can hear everyone below yellling encouragements to keeep on going.
IT WAS AMAZING !
afterwards, we are dirty: theres mud on everyones clothes; people neeed bandaids on every part of their body; we smelll of sweat; everyone is sunburn to the max; people have bloood on their clothing, blood of someone else; we have bruises and cuts on our legs and arms.
the day was perfect, just being one of the boyss..
i think we can alll say that ariana is kinda like a dude now.
my current family loves to go jeeeeping. jeeeping is basicallly taking a jeeep on "paths" (no, they are not paths, you make your own) and explore places that you cannt normallly seee with a car. we climbed the mountains in coronel fabriciano, me being thrown around in the backseat, seeeing alll of Vale de Aço and eventuallly stopping to hike through nature (yes, i did think about getting attack by anacondas again. its always on my mind here) we went to a waterfalll, hiddden by the treees and would have gone unnoticed if it wasnt for the crashing water. when we got close, i looked to my dad and said with a huge grin on my face, "can i go under the fallls?"
"oooh ofcourse!"
i threw offf my shoes and ran under the falllls, running and dancing around, soaking up the energy that radiated from the waterfalll.
afterwards, i was dripping wet, dirt everywhere, smellling of lake water, leaves interlocked in my hair, and a huge SMILE acrosss my face. :D just being one of the boyss..
my next family is reallly into shoting guns so they invited me to this special clube here where you practice shoting at targets. i've never shot a gun before in my life so i was prettty excited to shot at litttle targets, and so was my father and brother. they had 3 or 4 diffferent types of guns and they kept kinda throwing them at me, "here, try this one. ooh here's another one, try it. youre doing great, ariana, again!" and i was doing prettty goood (according to myself) for someone who has never touched a gun before. i hit probably a goood 10 targets !
*sidenote: people dont hunt animals here. because of their love for animals and the Amazon, it just doesnt happen (which i find funnny cause where i'm from, EVERYONE hunts.) theres a joke here that if you shot a person, youll go to trail for it and such. but if you shot an animal, youre going to jail.
just being one of the boyss..
my last family invited me to go repealing down a waterfalll with them for my brothers birthday.
ofcourse i said yes. who can say that they have ever repealed down a waterfalll before?
we traveled outside of the city, through more dirt roads that eventually just lead to dirt where we had to walk another km to our waterfalll. the view was absolutley out of this world! i wanted to camp there and just spend hours and hours just loooking at the surrounding mountains and valleys and other waterfallls and greeeen forests. so beauitful!
while the repeal team set up the equitment me and the boys explored the area, climbing down to the base of the waterfalll. everyone is fallling on their buttts cause of the wet rocks. it was one after the other after the other after the other, just EVERYONE is falling on their butts and we are laughing like its the funniest thing in the world. then its my turn and im thinking, "i'm not gonna falll." i hit the ground so hard,
so we are splashing at the base of the falll, its deeep enough to swim so we are just swimming around in our clothes. we got out to have a litttle snack and we were dry within 20min because the sun is THAT powerful here. we had lunch at the top of the waterfalll. who can say that they had a picnic on a waterfalll? it was so peacefull and relaxing.
we watched one group of 3 repeal down the falll and i'm thinking, "man this loooks awesome! and easy"
it was one of the most challenging, grueling, difficult things i have ever down in my entire life. and i am dead serious.
the waterfalll was set up kinda in 3steps, one was not in the water, the second just your feeet would be gettting wet and the third step youre whole body would be submerged in the gushing water.
my arm is aching, my leg is cramping up, my glove is fallling offf, my back is hurting, i'm getting commands yellled at in português that i can barely hear, i'm slipping everywhere on the rocks, my leg is bleeeding blood cause i wacked it offf the rock, we are screaming out our energy, im yellling out my pain. now the water is gushing over my face and i can barely seeee and breathe. i can hear everyone below yellling encouragements to keeep on going.
IT WAS AMAZING !
afterwards, we are dirty: theres mud on everyones clothes; people neeed bandaids on every part of their body; we smelll of sweat; everyone is sunburn to the max; people have bloood on their clothing, blood of someone else; we have bruises and cuts on our legs and arms.
the day was perfect, just being one of the boyss..
i think we can alll say that ariana is kinda like a dude now.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Dia de Ação de Graças
Thanksgiving Day
While you all were snuggled up near the televisions watching footballl and eating as much foood that was humanly possible, i was laying by the pooool, reading a good book, preparing for my own Thanksgiving Feast, here in Brasil.
my family was reallllllllly excited for the dinner that i had planned for them. Since the day I moved in, they already were anticapating, a month beforeheand, the meal that is All-American, something they only seee on movies. Because i have made this day out to be one of the best days of the year on the American calandor, they were expecting ALOT. please remember that i'm just a girl with eightteen years who has never cooked a meal for 14 people.
my feast consisted of:
Turkey (peru)
Sweet Potatoes (batata duce)
Stuffing (doesnt exist in português)
Apple Pie (torta de maçã)
Pumpkin Pie (torta de abóbora)
what a challenge it was to find all these ingredients
I made the pies the night before and i have to admitt, for someone who has never made a pie before, they turned out prettty dang good. it was nothing in comparison of Grandmas or the pies we buy from the church, but hey.. Brasilerios have never tasted the sweeetnesss of Grandmas pies so i was in luck ;D
the only problem was with the pumpkin pie. they dont have a can of pumkin like we have at home where you can just buy at Wal*Mart. therefore my momma and i made a replacement: a real pumkpin. we bought a pumkin from the supermarket (pumkpin is commonly eatten here) boiled it down and got alll the gooodness out of it. Let me telll you, it was wayyy better than the can; i will never use a can of pumkin again.
I cooked the stufffing the morning of and it definatly didnt have any "curb appeal" it did not look prettty at alll but it was good! i got the recipe offline and i was proud, and surprised, of myself once again.
The whole family gathered that night to give thanks to our God for alll our blesssings and to taste Ariana's creations. I said a prayer before, in English, and then said, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Now let's eat!"
It was a beauitful evening full of laughter and wine and friendship and way to much fooood, ofcourse. I looked around at everything and just had to smile: I'm having Thanksgiving, an American holiday, with Brasilerios.
They HAD to include rice on the meal of fooood. I was a litttle bit appauled with that fact; never have i heard of people eating rice on Thanksgiving. But when i looked at everyones plate, EVERYONE had a cupfull of rice. And when i said this to my brother, he was like, "Its Brasil Baby." só no Brasil..
I skyped with my family the day of Thanksgiving and afterward I got a litttle sad, thinking, "man, i wish i was there eating Grandma's cranberry sauce or seeing Mick and Chris from London, or gettting attacked by Aunt Monica's dog."
But i wasnt there. I was here, in Brasil. Excatly where I am suppose to be..
While you all were snuggled up near the televisions watching footballl and eating as much foood that was humanly possible, i was laying by the pooool, reading a good book, preparing for my own Thanksgiving Feast, here in Brasil.
my family was reallllllllly excited for the dinner that i had planned for them. Since the day I moved in, they already were anticapating, a month beforeheand, the meal that is All-American, something they only seee on movies. Because i have made this day out to be one of the best days of the year on the American calandor, they were expecting ALOT. please remember that i'm just a girl with eightteen years who has never cooked a meal for 14 people.
my feast consisted of:
Turkey (peru)
Sweet Potatoes (batata duce)
Stuffing (doesnt exist in português)
Apple Pie (torta de maçã)
Pumpkin Pie (torta de abóbora)
what a challenge it was to find all these ingredients
I made the pies the night before and i have to admitt, for someone who has never made a pie before, they turned out prettty dang good. it was nothing in comparison of Grandmas or the pies we buy from the church, but hey.. Brasilerios have never tasted the sweeetnesss of Grandmas pies so i was in luck ;D
the only problem was with the pumpkin pie. they dont have a can of pumkin like we have at home where you can just buy at Wal*Mart. therefore my momma and i made a replacement: a real pumkpin. we bought a pumkin from the supermarket (pumkpin is commonly eatten here) boiled it down and got alll the gooodness out of it. Let me telll you, it was wayyy better than the can; i will never use a can of pumkin again.
I cooked the stufffing the morning of and it definatly didnt have any "curb appeal" it did not look prettty at alll but it was good! i got the recipe offline and i was proud, and surprised, of myself once again.
The whole family gathered that night to give thanks to our God for alll our blesssings and to taste Ariana's creations. I said a prayer before, in English, and then said, "Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Now let's eat!"
It was a beauitful evening full of laughter and wine and friendship and way to much fooood, ofcourse. I looked around at everything and just had to smile: I'm having Thanksgiving, an American holiday, with Brasilerios.
They HAD to include rice on the meal of fooood. I was a litttle bit appauled with that fact; never have i heard of people eating rice on Thanksgiving. But when i looked at everyones plate, EVERYONE had a cupfull of rice. And when i said this to my brother, he was like, "Its Brasil Baby." só no Brasil..
I skyped with my family the day of Thanksgiving and afterward I got a litttle sad, thinking, "man, i wish i was there eating Grandma's cranberry sauce or seeing Mick and Chris from London, or gettting attacked by Aunt Monica's dog."
But i wasnt there. I was here, in Brasil. Excatly where I am suppose to be..
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
differences
i have been pondering this post for quite some time now, i wanted to think of all the differences that stand out. the funny thing is that since i have been here for 3months (três meses!) the differences arent quite so loud, so bold; i have grown accussed to them, they are just part of my daily life
*ofcourse, the major difference at first was the language, português. but now, its the exact opposite. when i hear inglês from someone that usually doesnt speak inglês, i think, "wait that isnt right. i didnt have to translate that. ..ohmygosh thats my native language, inglês!! woahh"
*the climate. hottt. ofcourse, everyone is envious when i telll them i spent the day by the pool, gettting sun burn and i have another summer vacation coming soon. but the truth is, its gettting so hottt that its not even funn. this wkend, i wanted to cut my hair offf cause it was making me sweat somuch. everyone says that you dont know what hottt is until you are in Vale do Aço, Brasil in Januray. should be fun !
*like most south american countries, Brasil's biggest meal is lunch. i didnt think i woud love having my biggest meal in the middle of the day, but man, i love it somuch. i look forward to it during school, hoping that we have a big delicous fresh salad, thinking of the savory beans and rice.. ahh i am coming home to US expecting a fullcourse meal in front of me at 12:30
*having a maid, in one word, is amazing. i know that i am slowly becoming spoiled. my maid was gone for 3days, i am not exergatering when i tell you that i was struggling: my bed wasnt made, my bathroom was a mess, my laudry was overpiling. i neeeeeded some help !
*clothing here, esp womens, are ofcouse diffferent. diffferent land, diffferent styles. i told you all about the bikinnis, you can only imagine what they wear during the day. its not modest and i always feeel like the conserative american cause i like layers and turtle-necks and cardigns.
*everyones nails here are always neatly manicured and colored. my nailbeds are always a mess therefore i look slopppy.
*speaking of fashion and how fabuous brasilerias are, everyone wears highheeels. go to the mall on thursday afternoon, lets put my heeels on. going to a random dirty bar, put my heeels are. so OFCOURSE i had to get a pair :D
*this is one of my favorite differences and its probably the stupidest one there is: girls know how to put their hair up without having a hairtie. they can liek twist and knot it in a way that it will stay up ! its the cooolest thing ever and i try with my own hair, but its tooo curly (bushy)
* public transporation, buses, train, bikes, are very commonly used. i have learned how to take the bus, meu deus, that is a hilarious post
*have i already told you enough times that brasilerios drivers, make me car sick? well just to get the point acrosss, it makes me sick, all the time
*every neighborhood (ipatinga has over 30 and the neighborhood is kinda like the size of "downtown" new wilmington) has a fresh bakery which people visit on a daily bases
*almost everyone goes to the country clube, for both social purposes and to practice sports. i like it :)
*justin beiber is a controvsial isssue here: you either love him or hate his guts haha
*common professions that teenagers desire: medicine or enigeer (when i say that i want to be a professora, maybe, they look at me funny cause that career path isnt with high respect)
*teenagers, i think, are more stressed about their classes and future than US teeens. they have to take a test, similar to the SATs, but when Universities look at the students, they only look at the test, Vestibular, not their previous grades, activites, recommandtions etc. just the test which causes alotalot stressss.
*every school has a uniform. atfirst, i hated this idea cause usually i look nice for school. here is the complete opposite: i roll outta bed at the ungody hour of 6am, take a shower, and leave. no makeup, dont do my hair, dont put anything cute on. i am a sloppppy messs. but thats how everyone looks (sorrry if that upsets anyone, but lets be honest, we are sloppy at school)
*McDonalds &Burger King. thats alll. no one knows of Wendies, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, White Castle, A&W etc. just this. McDonalds is considered expensive which i find kinda funnny. a meal is around R$14 which could get you better quality, healthier meal
*Brasil = affectionate.
então, this is way i wanted Brasil. this is their culture. and this is what i have grown to get used to, these are the reasons why whenever people mention Brasil, my heart just throbs with allll the love i have for this place. BRA > EUA
*ofcourse, the major difference at first was the language, português. but now, its the exact opposite. when i hear inglês from someone that usually doesnt speak inglês, i think, "wait that isnt right. i didnt have to translate that. ..ohmygosh thats my native language, inglês!! woahh"
*the climate. hottt. ofcourse, everyone is envious when i telll them i spent the day by the pool, gettting sun burn and i have another summer vacation coming soon. but the truth is, its gettting so hottt that its not even funn. this wkend, i wanted to cut my hair offf cause it was making me sweat somuch. everyone says that you dont know what hottt is until you are in Vale do Aço, Brasil in Januray. should be fun !
*like most south american countries, Brasil's biggest meal is lunch. i didnt think i woud love having my biggest meal in the middle of the day, but man, i love it somuch. i look forward to it during school, hoping that we have a big delicous fresh salad, thinking of the savory beans and rice.. ahh i am coming home to US expecting a fullcourse meal in front of me at 12:30
*having a maid, in one word, is amazing. i know that i am slowly becoming spoiled. my maid was gone for 3days, i am not exergatering when i tell you that i was struggling: my bed wasnt made, my bathroom was a mess, my laudry was overpiling. i neeeeeded some help !
*clothing here, esp womens, are ofcouse diffferent. diffferent land, diffferent styles. i told you all about the bikinnis, you can only imagine what they wear during the day. its not modest and i always feeel like the conserative american cause i like layers and turtle-necks and cardigns.
*everyones nails here are always neatly manicured and colored. my nailbeds are always a mess therefore i look slopppy.
*speaking of fashion and how fabuous brasilerias are, everyone wears highheeels. go to the mall on thursday afternoon, lets put my heeels on. going to a random dirty bar, put my heeels are. so OFCOURSE i had to get a pair :D
*this is one of my favorite differences and its probably the stupidest one there is: girls know how to put their hair up without having a hairtie. they can liek twist and knot it in a way that it will stay up ! its the cooolest thing ever and i try with my own hair, but its tooo curly (bushy)
* public transporation, buses, train, bikes, are very commonly used. i have learned how to take the bus, meu deus, that is a hilarious post
*have i already told you enough times that brasilerios drivers, make me car sick? well just to get the point acrosss, it makes me sick, all the time
*every neighborhood (ipatinga has over 30 and the neighborhood is kinda like the size of "downtown" new wilmington) has a fresh bakery which people visit on a daily bases
*almost everyone goes to the country clube, for both social purposes and to practice sports. i like it :)
*justin beiber is a controvsial isssue here: you either love him or hate his guts haha
*common professions that teenagers desire: medicine or enigeer (when i say that i want to be a professora, maybe, they look at me funny cause that career path isnt with high respect)
*teenagers, i think, are more stressed about their classes and future than US teeens. they have to take a test, similar to the SATs, but when Universities look at the students, they only look at the test, Vestibular, not their previous grades, activites, recommandtions etc. just the test which causes alotalot stressss.
*every school has a uniform. atfirst, i hated this idea cause usually i look nice for school. here is the complete opposite: i roll outta bed at the ungody hour of 6am, take a shower, and leave. no makeup, dont do my hair, dont put anything cute on. i am a sloppppy messs. but thats how everyone looks (sorrry if that upsets anyone, but lets be honest, we are sloppy at school)
*McDonalds &Burger King. thats alll. no one knows of Wendies, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, White Castle, A&W etc. just this. McDonalds is considered expensive which i find kinda funnny. a meal is around R$14 which could get you better quality, healthier meal
*Brasil = affectionate.
então, this is way i wanted Brasil. this is their culture. and this is what i have grown to get used to, these are the reasons why whenever people mention Brasil, my heart just throbs with allll the love i have for this place. BRA > EUA
Monday, November 22, 2010
segunda familia
a litttttle description of my second family for everyone:
Pires Familia:
meu pai, William:
he is a professor at the local university teaching other students on engineering because he was once an engineer as well. he is older, around 50 i think, but that doesnt mean he isnt full of energy. he is like a hurricane of energy, running from here to there in a split second. he is constantly saying, come here ariana, let me show you this, lets go here for you to seee that. just one ball of energy. he is crazyyy about nature. he has a little garden in the backyard in which he shows me his prized watermelon weekly (its progress is actually coming along very fast) on my first day here, he basically climbed their cocount treee just to get one, crack it open and have me taste (afterward he was sweeating) he has a jeeep in which he loves to ride, preferiably in with mud and rain. we went on a littttle adventure to seee beauitful waterfallss and hiddden places that wouldnt be known unlesss you had jeeep and a crazy dad to take you there. he is just a reallly sweet, kind man.
minha mãe, Gladia:
she is a business women that owns many eyeglass stores &film in the 3cities (Vale de Aço) which causes her some stress but that doesnt mean she isnt constantly with a smie on her face. she is an intelligent women, speaking português, inglês, and french all fluntly and very quickly. its funny because she speaks inglês to my brother and português to me. hah she always looks fabulous with a cool flowing dress and cute shoes. she bought me my first pair of brasileria highheels, in which you can ask Barbara Carr about them ;D she takes dance lessons, and i watched one week and it was so beauitful. the way her body moved with ease throughout the flooor, how sensual and seductive it looked, it was as if i shoudnt be watching, like it should be kept as a hidden secret between her and her professor.
meu irmão, Alessandro:
ooh Alessandro. he has 16years, being in the same year as me in school but different classrooms (he is in the smart classroom hah) he is my brother, if i ever had one in a previous life. we are constantly teasing eachother, picking on eachother, my português and his inglês, talking about pretty girls and cute boys in our classs. he is not shy towards me at all and i am not either, therefore he knows pretty much my life story. we're close. unfortunalty (or fortunatly) he is one of the most studious people i have ever met in my life. he has class in the morning. he comes home to have lunch and immediatly starts to study, then at 6 he returns to school to STUDY more. next year, he isnt returning to the same school as me, instead he has been accepted in the best school in minas gerias in BH. so i will be missing my brother when he leaves me in Feb..
minha irmã, Amalia:
I have yet to meet her, she studies in BH and hasnt had the time to come home. She comes home in the middle of Dec in which we, just me and Amalia :D will travel to Balia together. i know that she is beauitful and intelligent and will be my sisterrr :)
so thats my family :D they live in the same neighborhood as the Santos, Horto, so i can visit whenever my litttle heart desiress.
before i moved, i didnt really want to because, as you allll know, I love the Santos family. But as Rotary insists, its a good way to see a different culture and lifestyle. they are different and yet the same as the Santos, both loving and warm Brasilerios and both my family :D
Pires Familia:
meu pai, William:
he is a professor at the local university teaching other students on engineering because he was once an engineer as well. he is older, around 50 i think, but that doesnt mean he isnt full of energy. he is like a hurricane of energy, running from here to there in a split second. he is constantly saying, come here ariana, let me show you this, lets go here for you to seee that. just one ball of energy. he is crazyyy about nature. he has a little garden in the backyard in which he shows me his prized watermelon weekly (its progress is actually coming along very fast) on my first day here, he basically climbed their cocount treee just to get one, crack it open and have me taste (afterward he was sweeating) he has a jeeep in which he loves to ride, preferiably in with mud and rain. we went on a littttle adventure to seee beauitful waterfallss and hiddden places that wouldnt be known unlesss you had jeeep and a crazy dad to take you there. he is just a reallly sweet, kind man.
minha mãe, Gladia:
she is a business women that owns many eyeglass stores &film in the 3cities (Vale de Aço) which causes her some stress but that doesnt mean she isnt constantly with a smie on her face. she is an intelligent women, speaking português, inglês, and french all fluntly and very quickly. its funny because she speaks inglês to my brother and português to me. hah she always looks fabulous with a cool flowing dress and cute shoes. she bought me my first pair of brasileria highheels, in which you can ask Barbara Carr about them ;D she takes dance lessons, and i watched one week and it was so beauitful. the way her body moved with ease throughout the flooor, how sensual and seductive it looked, it was as if i shoudnt be watching, like it should be kept as a hidden secret between her and her professor.
meu irmão, Alessandro:
ooh Alessandro. he has 16years, being in the same year as me in school but different classrooms (he is in the smart classroom hah) he is my brother, if i ever had one in a previous life. we are constantly teasing eachother, picking on eachother, my português and his inglês, talking about pretty girls and cute boys in our classs. he is not shy towards me at all and i am not either, therefore he knows pretty much my life story. we're close. unfortunalty (or fortunatly) he is one of the most studious people i have ever met in my life. he has class in the morning. he comes home to have lunch and immediatly starts to study, then at 6 he returns to school to STUDY more. next year, he isnt returning to the same school as me, instead he has been accepted in the best school in minas gerias in BH. so i will be missing my brother when he leaves me in Feb..
minha irmã, Amalia:
I have yet to meet her, she studies in BH and hasnt had the time to come home. She comes home in the middle of Dec in which we, just me and Amalia :D will travel to Balia together. i know that she is beauitful and intelligent and will be my sisterrr :)
so thats my family :D they live in the same neighborhood as the Santos, Horto, so i can visit whenever my litttle heart desiress.
before i moved, i didnt really want to because, as you allll know, I love the Santos family. But as Rotary insists, its a good way to see a different culture and lifestyle. they are different and yet the same as the Santos, both loving and warm Brasilerios and both my family :D
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
provas
after having been in school for almost 3months now, i have taken a total (count em) 2 tests! wooah. and both are going to be detailed for all of you below:
first of all, you have to understand the school system here. they typically make 2tests here a week, only on friday. for awhile here, i didnt like fridays at school. before you think i am crazy (what teenageer doesnt like fridays) let me explain:
everyone is stressing about the tests. they study so much that they barely have time for conversation, or to make fun and laugh at their favorite american. which isnt funn.
we have inglês class on friday, just once a week, and NO ONE pays attention which made me mad for a little bit. half of my class has perfect inglês and the other half doesnt speak but a few words. I just wanted to listen to my native language for 40mintues, pleasee! the one class i can actually understand, i cant understand cause everyone elses loud calls to eachother drown out professora.
before i made the tests, i would have to sit and wait by myself for the bus while everyone else made the tests. i just wanted to be included with everyone else, so i wanted to try this "prova" stufff, so i did. and heres how it went:
primeria provas estava inglês:
my class had to read Phantom of the Opera, a condesed version ofcourse, for a test that would be made in groups of two. the week before the test, i read their book in 5mintues cause i was bored during class, completely forgetting everything. so when i come into inglês, i ask the professora if i can make the test and she says ofcourse. so this boy comes over to me, Ricardo, a boy that i havent really talked with much, and he wants to be my partner for the test. i say, yeah sure ofcourse.
when we sit down for the test, everyone is yelling, "HEY thats not fair, he has the Americana. She speaks inglês." guys, dont be jealous of him, i dont remember this book at all hahah
we start making the test and he kinda just throws it on me, you speak inglês, this must be easy for you. "Ricardo, did you read the book?"
well no.
sweet, so when we get everything wrong, cause you didnt read the book and i dont remember anything, youre gonna blame me.
we got our tests back today and we made 4/5 ..haha
a girl by the name of vanessa, who DOESNT speak any inglês, made a 5/5 ..explain yourself now menina.
segunda prova de sociologia:
this past friday, the organizer of the 2nd year came up to me after class and asked if i would like to try and make a test today, either math ou sociologia. considering the fact that the math here looks like a Senior in Law School would be struggling with, i went with Sociologia.
I come in late for the test, everyone already is engrossed with their own material but i can see some smirks on their faces like, "haha she is gonna make this test, boa sorte americana."
there are about 5muilpte choice questions but its nothing like our mulipte choice. these muilpte choice, you had to read a huge paragraph (in portugês) then each A B C D was another paragraph in itself (again, português) lets just say that it took me a good long while to get through those questions.
but i could moreorless understand the questions ( i had my best friend, português dictionario, with me ) if i actually paid attention in class then i would maybe have done better in that part. but Mr.Lutz, i was channeling back to your class, all those months again, trying to remember all the knowledge and insight you gave us.
then came the short answer, now it gets interesting :D
the first one, i literally wrote (in português) I dont speak português. I understand the question but dont know how to respond. Sorry Professor.
Next question i actually tried to answer in português, but i think i just rambled on and on, using the same words over and over. HEY, i tried.
Final question, just to be annoying, i responded in inglês. Sorry professor. Someone was like, but "ariana i dont think he speaks inglês." ..yeah but i speak inglês hahah
After i left the classroom, i guess the teacher let everyone look at my test, everyone laughed at what i wrote! i was embarrassed :( bahh nahh, nothing embarrassses me anymore.
this past week, someone asked me if i understood the material on the test. i said yeah moreorless. they were like, haha i didnt understand ANYTHING! ..welll that makes me feel a little better. haha
this week is the final week of classes then next week is all tests.
after that baby, ITS SUMMER VACATION !!
bring on the sun burn, lazy days, Christmas, travels, New Years, and parties. I am so ready
first of all, you have to understand the school system here. they typically make 2tests here a week, only on friday. for awhile here, i didnt like fridays at school. before you think i am crazy (what teenageer doesnt like fridays) let me explain:
everyone is stressing about the tests. they study so much that they barely have time for conversation, or to make fun and laugh at their favorite american. which isnt funn.
we have inglês class on friday, just once a week, and NO ONE pays attention which made me mad for a little bit. half of my class has perfect inglês and the other half doesnt speak but a few words. I just wanted to listen to my native language for 40mintues, pleasee! the one class i can actually understand, i cant understand cause everyone elses loud calls to eachother drown out professora.
before i made the tests, i would have to sit and wait by myself for the bus while everyone else made the tests. i just wanted to be included with everyone else, so i wanted to try this "prova" stufff, so i did. and heres how it went:
primeria provas estava inglês:
my class had to read Phantom of the Opera, a condesed version ofcourse, for a test that would be made in groups of two. the week before the test, i read their book in 5mintues cause i was bored during class, completely forgetting everything. so when i come into inglês, i ask the professora if i can make the test and she says ofcourse. so this boy comes over to me, Ricardo, a boy that i havent really talked with much, and he wants to be my partner for the test. i say, yeah sure ofcourse.
when we sit down for the test, everyone is yelling, "HEY thats not fair, he has the Americana. She speaks inglês." guys, dont be jealous of him, i dont remember this book at all hahah
we start making the test and he kinda just throws it on me, you speak inglês, this must be easy for you. "Ricardo, did you read the book?"
well no.
sweet, so when we get everything wrong, cause you didnt read the book and i dont remember anything, youre gonna blame me.
we got our tests back today and we made 4/5 ..haha
a girl by the name of vanessa, who DOESNT speak any inglês, made a 5/5 ..explain yourself now menina.
segunda prova de sociologia:
this past friday, the organizer of the 2nd year came up to me after class and asked if i would like to try and make a test today, either math ou sociologia. considering the fact that the math here looks like a Senior in Law School would be struggling with, i went with Sociologia.
I come in late for the test, everyone already is engrossed with their own material but i can see some smirks on their faces like, "haha she is gonna make this test, boa sorte americana."
there are about 5muilpte choice questions but its nothing like our mulipte choice. these muilpte choice, you had to read a huge paragraph (in portugês) then each A B C D was another paragraph in itself (again, português) lets just say that it took me a good long while to get through those questions.
but i could moreorless understand the questions ( i had my best friend, português dictionario, with me ) if i actually paid attention in class then i would maybe have done better in that part. but Mr.Lutz, i was channeling back to your class, all those months again, trying to remember all the knowledge and insight you gave us.
then came the short answer, now it gets interesting :D
the first one, i literally wrote (in português) I dont speak português. I understand the question but dont know how to respond. Sorry Professor.
Next question i actually tried to answer in português, but i think i just rambled on and on, using the same words over and over. HEY, i tried.
Final question, just to be annoying, i responded in inglês. Sorry professor. Someone was like, but "ariana i dont think he speaks inglês." ..yeah but i speak inglês hahah
After i left the classroom, i guess the teacher let everyone look at my test, everyone laughed at what i wrote! i was embarrassed :( bahh nahh, nothing embarrassses me anymore.
this past week, someone asked me if i understood the material on the test. i said yeah moreorless. they were like, haha i didnt understand ANYTHING! ..welll that makes me feel a little better. haha
this week is the final week of classes then next week is all tests.
after that baby, ITS SUMMER VACATION !!
bring on the sun burn, lazy days, Christmas, travels, New Years, and parties. I am so ready
Monday, November 8, 2010
switching
yesterday, Nov7, i switched families.
this is a little early (ive only been here for 2 1/2 months and typically you switch after 4months) but many factors were considered for the switch. my second family, the Pires, have 2children. Amalia has 19 years, and Alessandro has 16years. Amalia studies in BH but will live at home for the hoildays, December-January. Alessandro is in the same class as me but will also go to BH to study after he finishes this year. so if i would stay in the Santos family for the correct amount of time, until December, than being in this family, I wouldnt get to spend alot of time with my siblings :) plus, after the third family, i can go back to the Santos for the remaining two months if i want. ooh i want to. it all makes sense but leaving was not easy.
the morning of the big move was rainy and just a crappy day, which contributed to my mood. i felt sad and tired and anxious and lazy. had little to no motativation to switch. i literally packed my life into 3suitcases within an hour time frame. it was a messss.
i just wanted this whole process to be like taking off a bandage, fast and painlessss. but i knew deeep down, i would cry when i had to say goodbye.
and guess what? i did cry
not because i didnt want to move into this family because i know i already love this family. but because i love the Santos family THAT much.
they have been with me since April when they first emailed me giving me details about Ipatinga, helping me through the frustrating process of the Visa (just thinking of that dang Visa makes me hate the postoffice even more, STILL) they were the first people i met in Brasil, holding up the SEJA BEM VINDA sign and hugging &kissing me when i was in arms reach. i know their whole extended family, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. its like they are my family too. they held me when i cried and kissed away the nonsense of my worries. they listened to my worthless portuguese and taught me SO MUCH. we laughed over everything and had many conversations, in english and portuguese, about everything. they took me places that could only be described in pictures because words fail. they gave me more love than i could imagine possible, considering i was never actually their daughter. but now, i am their daughter and they are my family.
so i would like to thankyou, Rógerio, Flávia Laura, and Vítor, pai, mãe, iramã, iramoã. Muito Obrigada . know that i could never repay you for everything you have done.
this is a little early (ive only been here for 2 1/2 months and typically you switch after 4months) but many factors were considered for the switch. my second family, the Pires, have 2children. Amalia has 19 years, and Alessandro has 16years. Amalia studies in BH but will live at home for the hoildays, December-January. Alessandro is in the same class as me but will also go to BH to study after he finishes this year. so if i would stay in the Santos family for the correct amount of time, until December, than being in this family, I wouldnt get to spend alot of time with my siblings :) plus, after the third family, i can go back to the Santos for the remaining two months if i want. ooh i want to. it all makes sense but leaving was not easy.
the morning of the big move was rainy and just a crappy day, which contributed to my mood. i felt sad and tired and anxious and lazy. had little to no motativation to switch. i literally packed my life into 3suitcases within an hour time frame. it was a messss.
i just wanted this whole process to be like taking off a bandage, fast and painlessss. but i knew deeep down, i would cry when i had to say goodbye.
and guess what? i did cry
not because i didnt want to move into this family because i know i already love this family. but because i love the Santos family THAT much.
they have been with me since April when they first emailed me giving me details about Ipatinga, helping me through the frustrating process of the Visa (just thinking of that dang Visa makes me hate the postoffice even more, STILL) they were the first people i met in Brasil, holding up the SEJA BEM VINDA sign and hugging &kissing me when i was in arms reach. i know their whole extended family, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. its like they are my family too. they held me when i cried and kissed away the nonsense of my worries. they listened to my worthless portuguese and taught me SO MUCH. we laughed over everything and had many conversations, in english and portuguese, about everything. they took me places that could only be described in pictures because words fail. they gave me more love than i could imagine possible, considering i was never actually their daughter. but now, i am their daughter and they are my family.
so i would like to thankyou, Rógerio, Flávia Laura, and Vítor, pai, mãe, iramã, iramoã. Muito Obrigada . know that i could never repay you for everything you have done.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
a língua, português
after that last post about the wax, everyone seems to know me a litttle toooooo well.
but i know what youre thinking, "ariana, enough about fabulous vacations, surprise birthday parties and waxes that make you scream. we wanna know about what youre suppose to be doing there: learning portuguese!"
i've been here for a little over 2months now (holy cow) and i can honestly say that it depends each day.
Sometimes I feel like I know ALOT of português, like i can have a conversation with my friends and family and not even have to think or translate, just speak. that in itself, is one of the most beauitful feelings i have ever felt. to think that i know a language that 2months ago, i knew 6words, is astonishing.
you also have to understand how much i love português. its a romance language, along with spanish, italian, and french, all formed by the roots of latin. as Liz Gilbert would say, each word, its like a truffle. like a sweet candy that rolls off your tongue.
for football fans, speaking português is like your favorite team winning the SuperBowl.
for Grandma Hall, speaking português is like you winning the lottery.
I love it that much.
Now, dont let my love for this language fool you, i am no fluent speaker that learned everything she needed to know within a 2month period.
I am waiting for the day that i can have a conversation with Vanessa or Iasmim or any other of classmate that doesnt speak english and not have to grab my dictionary or have Laura translate for me.
I am waiting for the day when a teacher makes a ridiculous comment and the class erupts into laughter, that i can laugh along too and ACTUALLY know what they are laughing at.
I am waitng for the day when i wake up and know that i dreamt in português..
Am i being patient?
Absoletly not.
i wanted all these things the first week I arrived here. Many of you have no idea what its like to sit in a room with 40kids and not understand a thing they are saying. To gather around a table for a meal and just sit and listen, trying to catch atleast what they are talking about. To have people talk to you and you just nodd and smile cause you are tried of saying what? repeat? again &again. To cherish all the conversations that you understand, whether in english or português.
And that is the joy of being an exchange student :D
Sometimes i get really frustrated with my português. why cant i understand this, why cant i understand when they talk to eachother REALLLY quickly, why cantt they understand ME when i try to say a new word and completely butcher it, why cant i just join a conversation without having to think really hard about what to say? ahhh!
You better believe that I am coming back with many many MANY português phrases that i will be saying, and you will be tooo :) some of these phrases make NO sense in english, there is no translation. like everyone says, vei, meaning "dude" but vei is short for old. why are you calling each other old?
or minha filha or meu fihlo, my son/daughter. why are you calling eachother your daughter? you cant even have kids yet.
or my personal favorite: Nossa Senhora. Translation in the dictionary is Our Lady but its used like Ohmygosh. Our Lady..huh?
my love of português, a beauitful langauge that someone back home should start studying so that we can tlak to eachother :) overrules how frustarting it is to communicate in the land of Ipatinga ;D
but i know what youre thinking, "ariana, enough about fabulous vacations, surprise birthday parties and waxes that make you scream. we wanna know about what youre suppose to be doing there: learning portuguese!"
i've been here for a little over 2months now (holy cow) and i can honestly say that it depends each day.
Sometimes I feel like I know ALOT of português, like i can have a conversation with my friends and family and not even have to think or translate, just speak. that in itself, is one of the most beauitful feelings i have ever felt. to think that i know a language that 2months ago, i knew 6words, is astonishing.
you also have to understand how much i love português. its a romance language, along with spanish, italian, and french, all formed by the roots of latin. as Liz Gilbert would say, each word, its like a truffle. like a sweet candy that rolls off your tongue.
for football fans, speaking português is like your favorite team winning the SuperBowl.
for Grandma Hall, speaking português is like you winning the lottery.
I love it that much.
Now, dont let my love for this language fool you, i am no fluent speaker that learned everything she needed to know within a 2month period.
I am waiting for the day that i can have a conversation with Vanessa or Iasmim or any other of classmate that doesnt speak english and not have to grab my dictionary or have Laura translate for me.
I am waiting for the day when a teacher makes a ridiculous comment and the class erupts into laughter, that i can laugh along too and ACTUALLY know what they are laughing at.
I am waitng for the day when i wake up and know that i dreamt in português..
Am i being patient?
Absoletly not.
i wanted all these things the first week I arrived here. Many of you have no idea what its like to sit in a room with 40kids and not understand a thing they are saying. To gather around a table for a meal and just sit and listen, trying to catch atleast what they are talking about. To have people talk to you and you just nodd and smile cause you are tried of saying what? repeat? again &again. To cherish all the conversations that you understand, whether in english or português.
And that is the joy of being an exchange student :D
Sometimes i get really frustrated with my português. why cant i understand this, why cant i understand when they talk to eachother REALLLY quickly, why cantt they understand ME when i try to say a new word and completely butcher it, why cant i just join a conversation without having to think really hard about what to say? ahhh!
You better believe that I am coming back with many many MANY português phrases that i will be saying, and you will be tooo :) some of these phrases make NO sense in english, there is no translation. like everyone says, vei, meaning "dude" but vei is short for old. why are you calling each other old?
or minha filha or meu fihlo, my son/daughter. why are you calling eachother your daughter? you cant even have kids yet.
or my personal favorite: Nossa Senhora. Translation in the dictionary is Our Lady but its used like Ohmygosh. Our Lady..huh?
my love of português, a beauitful langauge that someone back home should start studying so that we can tlak to eachother :) overrules how frustarting it is to communicate in the land of Ipatinga ;D
Sunday, October 31, 2010
biqíni aww
CAUSTION:
this post is not for the average reader. anything said or described is meant for your laughs &your enterinment. judgement is not permitted.
in my journey in becoming everything brasileria, an important and essential part is the bikinni wax. afterall, its called the "brasileria bikinni wax" so heres what happened:
before i went to the beach, me and Clare (aussie exchange) went to get our nails done..and then a wax. the nails part was alll fun &such. then the women looked at me and said, you first? (this whole dialogue was in portuguese but i dont feeel like translating back &forth)
me? but uhh, i was.. you ..welll yeah? i'm nervouss.
we go into this back room with this flabby door, i wouldnt even consider it a dooor and im even surprised she decided to close it. in the room, is a table that you would seee at the doctors office, with wax paper and alll. the women motions for me to take off my shorts and i start to but then she immediatley INSISTS that she does for it for me, "i just got my nails done" (they were clearly dry) the embarrassing part of that was she had a hard time getting my shorts off because i was sweating, its brasil, and everything was sticking to me. ha
i sit down on the table, she grabs my underpants and hikes them up. revealing everything.
woah there. wasnt expecting that.
i immediatley start laughing at this whole thing. what in the world am i doing here? she looks at me, with wax in her hand, and asks, "are you modest?"
i am not brasileria, so yes i am modest.
she starts putting the wax on the one side and its HOT! burning hott. after awhile, it starts to cool and actually feeel good. as sooon as it starts to feeel good, she RIPS it offf my skin, without warning.
thankyouu.
she continues to wax the other side, asking me questions and i am trying to have a conversation in portuguese but my soft screams interupt the conversation every so often.
she puts the wax away and i think she is done. i think i can put my pants back on and feeel human again, feeel like the modest american again.
she comes back with tweezers.
OHMYGOSH no no.. meu deus ..NO NO nossa senhora!! NO NO ..abalsoltey not ..why?! you are not getting next to me ..please no NO NÃO!!
i am going to pulll up my underpants, grab my pants and walk out of here with the rest of my diginity and not look back until i am home with huge sweatpants on and curl into a balll.
ofcourse that doesnt happen. i sit through the pain and silently curse everything in that rooom.
finally its over and i can finally pull up my pants (thankyou Lord) and leave. Clare is next and she seees in my face that it was NOT a good experince. i tell her no, its not worth it. dont do this to yourself. she said she heard me yelling a few rooms over. i thougth i wasnt being that loud.
Clare returns literally 5minutes later (was that how long i was in there cause it definatly felt like 17 long hours of pain)
she said it didnt hurt that bad. i hate you clare
lets just say that i am not going backk there for a lonnnnnnnnnng time..
well i mean, maybe ;D
this post is not for the average reader. anything said or described is meant for your laughs &your enterinment. judgement is not permitted.
in my journey in becoming everything brasileria, an important and essential part is the bikinni wax. afterall, its called the "brasileria bikinni wax" so heres what happened:
before i went to the beach, me and Clare (aussie exchange) went to get our nails done..and then a wax. the nails part was alll fun &such. then the women looked at me and said, you first? (this whole dialogue was in portuguese but i dont feeel like translating back &forth)
me? but uhh, i was.. you ..welll yeah? i'm nervouss.
we go into this back room with this flabby door, i wouldnt even consider it a dooor and im even surprised she decided to close it. in the room, is a table that you would seee at the doctors office, with wax paper and alll. the women motions for me to take off my shorts and i start to but then she immediatley INSISTS that she does for it for me, "i just got my nails done" (they were clearly dry) the embarrassing part of that was she had a hard time getting my shorts off because i was sweating, its brasil, and everything was sticking to me. ha
i sit down on the table, she grabs my underpants and hikes them up. revealing everything.
woah there. wasnt expecting that.
i immediatley start laughing at this whole thing. what in the world am i doing here? she looks at me, with wax in her hand, and asks, "are you modest?"
i am not brasileria, so yes i am modest.
she starts putting the wax on the one side and its HOT! burning hott. after awhile, it starts to cool and actually feeel good. as sooon as it starts to feeel good, she RIPS it offf my skin, without warning.
thankyouu.
she continues to wax the other side, asking me questions and i am trying to have a conversation in portuguese but my soft screams interupt the conversation every so often.
she puts the wax away and i think she is done. i think i can put my pants back on and feeel human again, feeel like the modest american again.
she comes back with tweezers.
OHMYGOSH no no.. meu deus ..NO NO nossa senhora!! NO NO ..abalsoltey not ..why?! you are not getting next to me ..please no NO NÃO!!
i am going to pulll up my underpants, grab my pants and walk out of here with the rest of my diginity and not look back until i am home with huge sweatpants on and curl into a balll.
ofcourse that doesnt happen. i sit through the pain and silently curse everything in that rooom.
finally its over and i can finally pull up my pants (thankyou Lord) and leave. Clare is next and she seees in my face that it was NOT a good experince. i tell her no, its not worth it. dont do this to yourself. she said she heard me yelling a few rooms over. i thougth i wasnt being that loud.
Clare returns literally 5minutes later (was that how long i was in there cause it definatly felt like 17 long hours of pain)
she said it didnt hurt that bad. i hate you clare
lets just say that i am not going backk there for a lonnnnnnnnnng time..
well i mean, maybe ;D
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
parabéns!
i arrived home on my birthday after a week of pure bliss in Cabo Frio and various other towns. we had a long nights travel and when we arrived home, we went back to bed, sleeeping until 10in the morning.
i didnt except to do much on my birthday. it was a sunday and we did just travel 8hours on a bus, so i thought it would be a typical sunday: go to the clube, play some tennis, swim then maybe go out to dinner to celebrate my turning of age.
my parents didnt have that in mind.
i woke up and literally fell into the shower because i think Dondora waxed my floors while i was gone. when i went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, i opened the fridge and found piles of meat for a bbq, a beauitful huge cake and lots of food.
whats going on?
i went outside to find Dondora working. Dondora is never here on Sunday.
whats going on?
outside there were tables and chairs, fancy china and a man starting up a bbq.
whats going on?
i asked my parents "what was going on?!" and they causally said that some people were coming over for lunch and i should probably go change. I looked down at what i was wearing: the clothes i had on yesterday for the bus ride here. ..yeah i think i should change.
it occured to me that maybe they were throwing me a birthday party but how? we werent home all week and i couldnt have invited my friends. my sneaky little parents planned this all by themselves without me finding out. cleverr
i realized that everyone who came to my party, they are my "family" here: all my host families, my rotary counslor, my friends from school and my bffff exchangerrrs. i hadnt even known these people 2months ago but now, they are my "familia brasileria," the people that i can run to whenever i need to, my bestfriends. at that moment, i felt so loved, so accepted, so.. happy! i never would have thought that i would feeel this way with total strangers, but they arent strangers, they are my family.
the party wasnt anything big or grande. it was just a small bbq where we ate way too many sweets and laughed way too much. but it was one of the most special days here in brasil :))))
i didnt except to do much on my birthday. it was a sunday and we did just travel 8hours on a bus, so i thought it would be a typical sunday: go to the clube, play some tennis, swim then maybe go out to dinner to celebrate my turning of age.
my parents didnt have that in mind.
i woke up and literally fell into the shower because i think Dondora waxed my floors while i was gone. when i went into the kitchen to eat breakfast, i opened the fridge and found piles of meat for a bbq, a beauitful huge cake and lots of food.
whats going on?
i went outside to find Dondora working. Dondora is never here on Sunday.
whats going on?
outside there were tables and chairs, fancy china and a man starting up a bbq.
whats going on?
i asked my parents "what was going on?!" and they causally said that some people were coming over for lunch and i should probably go change. I looked down at what i was wearing: the clothes i had on yesterday for the bus ride here. ..yeah i think i should change.
it occured to me that maybe they were throwing me a birthday party but how? we werent home all week and i couldnt have invited my friends. my sneaky little parents planned this all by themselves without me finding out. cleverr
i realized that everyone who came to my party, they are my "family" here: all my host families, my rotary counslor, my friends from school and my bffff exchangerrrs. i hadnt even known these people 2months ago but now, they are my "familia brasileria," the people that i can run to whenever i need to, my bestfriends. at that moment, i felt so loved, so accepted, so.. happy! i never would have thought that i would feeel this way with total strangers, but they arent strangers, they are my family.
the party wasnt anything big or grande. it was just a small bbq where we ate way too many sweets and laughed way too much. but it was one of the most special days here in brasil :))))
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
férias III
okay so i promise to finish up talking abot Cabo Frio today, Vanessa wants me to start talking about her ;D ahah te amo
quinta-feria(wednesday): my mother invited me to walk with her along the beach to the forte. This forte was used to protect the brasilerian people hundreds of years ago from any enemy that portugal didnt want there. the unique thing about the forte was that it was able to see both the harbor and the ocean. i could actually feel the history breathing in the walls. its one of the oldest fortes in brasil so when you enter, the walls are so thick everything is silent; the sea, the people, you have to whisper.
afterwards we hit the beach, getting more sunburn, more tanlines. :D (enivous yet?)
after lunchtime, my mother, grandmother and i traveled to the nearby city of buizos. its a big tourist town, many many hostels. (while we were at the beach, i heard alot of spanish, argentinaian people travel to brasil because of our beaches ofcourse. my momma&i were walking back and this man said something to me. i kinda understood what he said but i knew it wasnt portuguese. my mother said that he was hitting on me, "the most beauitful girl on the beach" i would have been more flattered if i wasnt the only girl under the age of 30. thankyou) hahah
buizos was beauitful. absolutley beauitful. i think i liked buizos more than cabo frio (undecided) i loved it because it was such a calm relaxing city. the waves just rolled onto shore, without making a sound, as if they wanted to go unnoticed. we walked throughout the many shops and almost every store, you would walk to the back and it would have a balconey leading to the sea.
you know when a place just clicks with you? when you feeel like you could spend days there, not for any reason whatsoever, just because, well that was buizos to me.
Quina-feria(Thursday):
more beach, more sun, more lounging around doing nothing.
i cant remember anything special about thursday, but i remember eating alot of icecream, which seems to be a pattern here. and i hung out with my cousin, Daniel :)
Daniel is..not shy..at all. we became really close, really quickly. he was like my baby brother. we talked alot about nothing, about everything. he thought it was hilarious how i would pronounce some brasilerian names and i thought it was hilarious on how he would pronounce some american names. i probably asked him to say all your names and ohmygosh, you would have laughed sooo hard! they make every name sound ..sound "delicious" it sounds sexy and romantic and ..ohh how i love portuguese.
sexta-feria(friday):
friday was the last day at the beach so we soaked in as much sun as possible.
afterwards, me and Daniel went on a boat ride! a little tour around Cabo Frio and the surrounding islands. Risss, remember when you were in Chile and thought that once you got out into the open water, it would be calm? yeah me tooo! until we got further out, and the waves just got more and more angry. the boat would hit a wave, tilt upwards, i would go flying everywhere, water would splash up. it was ridiculously funn.
the boat anchored by a nearby island and we were allowed to jump in the water and swimm for awhile. the color of the water!! ahhhh, a deeeep, beauitful, OCEAN blue. i would have beeen so excited for this opportunity except that the wind was slicing my checkbones and i wouldnt take offf my two jackets if someone paided me to. but ofcourse, Daniel jumped in, the only person.
Sabado(Saturday):
we rose REALLY early to travel back to Juiz de Fora so that we could catch our bus home later that night. the car ride was long and ofcourse i felt carsick (getting carsick is like me eating, it happens alot)
we had a gorgeous lunch with my mother's family. my uncles, my mother's brothers, have both been to the States, and we got to talking about food back home. They both said, and i have heard this often, that American food is spicy! Is it spicy? Or are we so used to it that we dont notice when we put lots of pepper and herds and seasonings. I havent heard of many people liking pepper here. Its salt. how unusual..
our vacation ended at 9 that night when we had to depart and catch our bus. i knew that when i would arrive in Ipatinga, at 5am, I would offically have 18years :D
quinta-feria(wednesday): my mother invited me to walk with her along the beach to the forte. This forte was used to protect the brasilerian people hundreds of years ago from any enemy that portugal didnt want there. the unique thing about the forte was that it was able to see both the harbor and the ocean. i could actually feel the history breathing in the walls. its one of the oldest fortes in brasil so when you enter, the walls are so thick everything is silent; the sea, the people, you have to whisper.
afterwards we hit the beach, getting more sunburn, more tanlines. :D (enivous yet?)
after lunchtime, my mother, grandmother and i traveled to the nearby city of buizos. its a big tourist town, many many hostels. (while we were at the beach, i heard alot of spanish, argentinaian people travel to brasil because of our beaches ofcourse. my momma&i were walking back and this man said something to me. i kinda understood what he said but i knew it wasnt portuguese. my mother said that he was hitting on me, "the most beauitful girl on the beach" i would have been more flattered if i wasnt the only girl under the age of 30. thankyou) hahah
buizos was beauitful. absolutley beauitful. i think i liked buizos more than cabo frio (undecided) i loved it because it was such a calm relaxing city. the waves just rolled onto shore, without making a sound, as if they wanted to go unnoticed. we walked throughout the many shops and almost every store, you would walk to the back and it would have a balconey leading to the sea.
you know when a place just clicks with you? when you feeel like you could spend days there, not for any reason whatsoever, just because, well that was buizos to me.
Quina-feria(Thursday):
more beach, more sun, more lounging around doing nothing.
i cant remember anything special about thursday, but i remember eating alot of icecream, which seems to be a pattern here. and i hung out with my cousin, Daniel :)
Daniel is..not shy..at all. we became really close, really quickly. he was like my baby brother. we talked alot about nothing, about everything. he thought it was hilarious how i would pronounce some brasilerian names and i thought it was hilarious on how he would pronounce some american names. i probably asked him to say all your names and ohmygosh, you would have laughed sooo hard! they make every name sound ..sound "delicious" it sounds sexy and romantic and ..ohh how i love portuguese.
sexta-feria(friday):
friday was the last day at the beach so we soaked in as much sun as possible.
afterwards, me and Daniel went on a boat ride! a little tour around Cabo Frio and the surrounding islands. Risss, remember when you were in Chile and thought that once you got out into the open water, it would be calm? yeah me tooo! until we got further out, and the waves just got more and more angry. the boat would hit a wave, tilt upwards, i would go flying everywhere, water would splash up. it was ridiculously funn.
the boat anchored by a nearby island and we were allowed to jump in the water and swimm for awhile. the color of the water!! ahhhh, a deeeep, beauitful, OCEAN blue. i would have beeen so excited for this opportunity except that the wind was slicing my checkbones and i wouldnt take offf my two jackets if someone paided me to. but ofcourse, Daniel jumped in, the only person.
Sabado(Saturday):
we rose REALLY early to travel back to Juiz de Fora so that we could catch our bus home later that night. the car ride was long and ofcourse i felt carsick (getting carsick is like me eating, it happens alot)
we had a gorgeous lunch with my mother's family. my uncles, my mother's brothers, have both been to the States, and we got to talking about food back home. They both said, and i have heard this often, that American food is spicy! Is it spicy? Or are we so used to it that we dont notice when we put lots of pepper and herds and seasonings. I havent heard of many people liking pepper here. Its salt. how unusual..
our vacation ended at 9 that night when we had to depart and catch our bus. i knew that when i would arrive in Ipatinga, at 5am, I would offically have 18years :D
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
férias II
and we are up to Segunda(monday):
it was raining. i was borderline depressed during the morning. i mean commonn, we're at one of the most beautiful beaches in Brasil, and mother-nature decides to literally "rain on my parade"?
but the Girls (me, my mother, grandmother, and Aunt Bia, Daniel's Mom) went to "Rua de Biquíni"
We are hunting for a bikkini for ariana.
By this point, i know what a typical brasileria bikkini looks like: top is basically the same but the bottoms are a litttle more, how should i say.. more revealing. we walk through the streeet, past countless stores, and i havent gained enough courage to actually try one on. After about twenty minutes, i am like "ariana, just try one on and see what it looks like. you wouldnt know until you put it on."
i pick one up, not really that cute, but i have to start somewhere.
i look like a beached whale.
my buttt is hanging out, i look fat, i cant even get the top on.
i am not coming out of this dresssing room.
i am going to find myself a big-girl one-piece and just keep my clothes on while at the beach
really frustrated at this point.
during the rest of the day, somehow i start warming up to the idea of my buttt hanging out..not completely. calm down everyone. but usually, the biquíni has just a little bit. ..just a litttle bit showing offf. i'm only in brasil once.
i end up finding a really cute floral suit with just the right amount of me being "exposed" i will not be wearing this in Estados Unidos.. hahah
that Monday night, we went to a restuarant that was literally on the beach. we all had delicious seafood, ahh sooo delicious.
we got to talking about politics (a subject i know little about) Brasil just had an election (discuss more on a seperate post) so there is much debate. My Uncle got to talking about the USA and asking my opinion on the War in Iraq (i tried my hardest to represet America well) he said something very interesting that got me thinking.
He said that whoever we elect next, whether it be Obama again or some other leader, it will effect the entire world.
whoever YOU choose as the president will effect these people as well.
The United States has that much power at this current moment, that our leaders have a lot of say in International affairs.
Just something for all of you to ponder...
Terça(Tuesday):
I woke up, went to the kitchen and heard, "Ariana, its sunny outside!"
THANKYOU BRASIL!
I put my biquíni on and we are off to the beach.
the beach has hundreds, i might even be bold and say thousands of people. its not a very wide beach either so whoever your nieghbor is, you will get to know them very welll.
beaches sell everything here. icecream, wooden spoons, bikinnis, bracelets, pizza, coconut juice, sunglasses, bbq meat. and more. crazynesss. and the merchants, they get really annoying, reallly fast cause they get in your face and just want your money.
the water is freezing. Look at the name of the beach: Cabo Frio.
literal translation: Cape Cold.
Cabo Frio has THE coldest water in Brasil because it gets the southern water from the poles. Its not uncommon to see peguins surfing in the water. I saw three while i was there!! The one was really close to shore, basically at kneee height, and if he reaches shore, he will die. :(
the good/bad thing about Cabo Frio is that it was alotalot wind.
Good: it cools you off
Bad: you dont notice when you start to fry.
I went home the first day and looked at my chest. I hadnt rubbed in my sunscreeen good enough therefore i had fingerprint marks on my chest. Thankyou Brasilerian Sun
enough for now, more later :)
it was raining. i was borderline depressed during the morning. i mean commonn, we're at one of the most beautiful beaches in Brasil, and mother-nature decides to literally "rain on my parade"?
but the Girls (me, my mother, grandmother, and Aunt Bia, Daniel's Mom) went to "Rua de Biquíni"
We are hunting for a bikkini for ariana.
By this point, i know what a typical brasileria bikkini looks like: top is basically the same but the bottoms are a litttle more, how should i say.. more revealing. we walk through the streeet, past countless stores, and i havent gained enough courage to actually try one on. After about twenty minutes, i am like "ariana, just try one on and see what it looks like. you wouldnt know until you put it on."
i pick one up, not really that cute, but i have to start somewhere.
i look like a beached whale.
my buttt is hanging out, i look fat, i cant even get the top on.
i am not coming out of this dresssing room.
i am going to find myself a big-girl one-piece and just keep my clothes on while at the beach
really frustrated at this point.
during the rest of the day, somehow i start warming up to the idea of my buttt hanging out..not completely. calm down everyone. but usually, the biquíni has just a little bit. ..just a litttle bit showing offf. i'm only in brasil once.
i end up finding a really cute floral suit with just the right amount of me being "exposed" i will not be wearing this in Estados Unidos.. hahah
that Monday night, we went to a restuarant that was literally on the beach. we all had delicious seafood, ahh sooo delicious.
we got to talking about politics (a subject i know little about) Brasil just had an election (discuss more on a seperate post) so there is much debate. My Uncle got to talking about the USA and asking my opinion on the War in Iraq (i tried my hardest to represet America well) he said something very interesting that got me thinking.
He said that whoever we elect next, whether it be Obama again or some other leader, it will effect the entire world.
whoever YOU choose as the president will effect these people as well.
The United States has that much power at this current moment, that our leaders have a lot of say in International affairs.
Just something for all of you to ponder...
Terça(Tuesday):
I woke up, went to the kitchen and heard, "Ariana, its sunny outside!"
THANKYOU BRASIL!
I put my biquíni on and we are off to the beach.
the beach has hundreds, i might even be bold and say thousands of people. its not a very wide beach either so whoever your nieghbor is, you will get to know them very welll.
beaches sell everything here. icecream, wooden spoons, bikinnis, bracelets, pizza, coconut juice, sunglasses, bbq meat. and more. crazynesss. and the merchants, they get really annoying, reallly fast cause they get in your face and just want your money.
the water is freezing. Look at the name of the beach: Cabo Frio.
literal translation: Cape Cold.
Cabo Frio has THE coldest water in Brasil because it gets the southern water from the poles. Its not uncommon to see peguins surfing in the water. I saw three while i was there!! The one was really close to shore, basically at kneee height, and if he reaches shore, he will die. :(
the good/bad thing about Cabo Frio is that it was alotalot wind.
Good: it cools you off
Bad: you dont notice when you start to fry.
I went home the first day and looked at my chest. I hadnt rubbed in my sunscreeen good enough therefore i had fingerprint marks on my chest. Thankyou Brasilerian Sun
enough for now, more later :)
Monday, October 18, 2010
férias I
i'm home :)))) after a week of vacation in the gorgeous town of Cabo Frio, i am back in Ipatinga, my home.
i've decided to divide this week into two different posts, maybe more, that way i can go into more detail (which i know you will love) and not have to sit at the computer longer than necassary. Allow me to begin:
I would be traveling to Juiz de Fora by bus, a total of 8hours. My mother and I left Ipatinga at 9pm on Friday and would arrive in Juiz de Fora around 5am. Juiz de Fora is where my mother used to live, her "old stomping grounds" and i would have the chance to meet her side of the family. Juiza de Fora is another 4hours away from Cabo Frio in the state of Rio de Janerio (there is the state of Rio &the city. Same with Sao Paulo, just so ya know) talk about long traveling.
i tried to sleep on the way to Juiz de Fora but all i could think of was:
Dear Mister Bus Driver,
when were you issued your liscene? because i'm am one-hundred percent sure that a blind women with no left arm could have driven better than you.
sincerely,
your passanger who was constantly hitting her head off the window when she was just ABOUT to fall asleep.
we take a taxi to my grandma's house and its around 5:30am. i meet my grandma, Erika, who i would be spending the week with in Cabo Frio along with my 14year cousin Daniel.
instantly, i know that Erika is my grandma. throughout the entire week she is, "ariana, do you need anything?" "are you hungry?" "can i get you something?" "ooh, let me buy you this!"
OOH how i love grandmas :) (and no grandma hall &grandma judy, you have not been replaced)
so we take a nap and wonder the city of Juza de Fora which is fairly large. my mother, grandma &i love shoes (what women can honestly tell me they dont like shoes?) and so ofcourse i had to get a pair, sandels, totally brasileria ;D
we had lunch and i met with my cousin, Bruno, who is 19 and reallllllly dark, realllllllly brasilerio. which i am apparentlly intended to wed, according to my uncle, his dad. just teasing yall. anyway, we saw COMER RAZER AMAR. (eat pray love) you all need to go out and watch it (is it still in theaters?) maybe throw some portuguese subtitles on the bottom like me ;D
Domingo (sunday): we rose early and started our journey to Cabo Frio. on the way to Cabo Frio, we would pass through RIO DE JANERIO.
yess, ladies and gentleman, i was in Rio de Janerio on Sunday, October 10.
oohmygoshhh.
okay okay, details.
entering the city, i was panicking with excitement. OH MY I'M IN RIO. looking every which way, being a tourist, trying to take pictures while in the car. it was a messs. panicking with excitement
first impressions of Rio:
honestly? this city is not very nice.
explain: the poverty is reallly evident and the falavas (slums) are a large part of the city. i know that crime, drugs, violence is a major problem there. that was the city part of it.
when we got closer to the coast, thats when ariana fell in love.
please think of a city for me that has all of the following:
massive gorgeous buildings; beauitful beach; moutains all around.
probably none are coming to mind. maybe like one, if youre lucky.
beause its only in Rio
i saw the famous statue of Christ, symbol of Brasil, called Christo Redentor, only from a distance.
my family thinks that it is larger than the Staue of Liberty. you can say that its pretty big. it was a gift from another country to brasil (cant rememeber what european country, danggit!) its a reminder of how Christ is guarding everyone, Brasileria &me.
everywhere i would look, I could always find that statue in the distance, hovering on the mountain, protecting everyone from harm. God Blesss.
i was on the famous beach, Copacabana, the most famous in Rio, probably the most famous of alll Brasil. Unfortunatly, the day i was there, it was cloudy so the beach was with few ppl but all the same, it was pretty incredible. my first, and defiantly not the last brasileria praia :D
we only spent the afternoon, having lunch (in a grocery store? imagine that. reallly delicious though) i have to find my way back to Rio, somehow, someway. so much more to seee.
im tired of writing. ive only covered two days. BUT i promised you all details. so details IT IS.
just be patient and wait for the next posts :))) tchau
i've decided to divide this week into two different posts, maybe more, that way i can go into more detail (which i know you will love) and not have to sit at the computer longer than necassary. Allow me to begin:
I would be traveling to Juiz de Fora by bus, a total of 8hours. My mother and I left Ipatinga at 9pm on Friday and would arrive in Juiz de Fora around 5am. Juiz de Fora is where my mother used to live, her "old stomping grounds" and i would have the chance to meet her side of the family. Juiza de Fora is another 4hours away from Cabo Frio in the state of Rio de Janerio (there is the state of Rio &the city. Same with Sao Paulo, just so ya know) talk about long traveling.
i tried to sleep on the way to Juiz de Fora but all i could think of was:
Dear Mister Bus Driver,
when were you issued your liscene? because i'm am one-hundred percent sure that a blind women with no left arm could have driven better than you.
sincerely,
your passanger who was constantly hitting her head off the window when she was just ABOUT to fall asleep.
we take a taxi to my grandma's house and its around 5:30am. i meet my grandma, Erika, who i would be spending the week with in Cabo Frio along with my 14year cousin Daniel.
instantly, i know that Erika is my grandma. throughout the entire week she is, "ariana, do you need anything?" "are you hungry?" "can i get you something?" "ooh, let me buy you this!"
OOH how i love grandmas :) (and no grandma hall &grandma judy, you have not been replaced)
so we take a nap and wonder the city of Juza de Fora which is fairly large. my mother, grandma &i love shoes (what women can honestly tell me they dont like shoes?) and so ofcourse i had to get a pair, sandels, totally brasileria ;D
we had lunch and i met with my cousin, Bruno, who is 19 and reallllllly dark, realllllllly brasilerio. which i am apparentlly intended to wed, according to my uncle, his dad. just teasing yall. anyway, we saw COMER RAZER AMAR. (eat pray love) you all need to go out and watch it (is it still in theaters?) maybe throw some portuguese subtitles on the bottom like me ;D
Domingo (sunday): we rose early and started our journey to Cabo Frio. on the way to Cabo Frio, we would pass through RIO DE JANERIO.
yess, ladies and gentleman, i was in Rio de Janerio on Sunday, October 10.
oohmygoshhh.
okay okay, details.
entering the city, i was panicking with excitement. OH MY I'M IN RIO. looking every which way, being a tourist, trying to take pictures while in the car. it was a messs. panicking with excitement
first impressions of Rio:
honestly? this city is not very nice.
explain: the poverty is reallly evident and the falavas (slums) are a large part of the city. i know that crime, drugs, violence is a major problem there. that was the city part of it.
when we got closer to the coast, thats when ariana fell in love.
please think of a city for me that has all of the following:
massive gorgeous buildings; beauitful beach; moutains all around.
probably none are coming to mind. maybe like one, if youre lucky.
beause its only in Rio
i saw the famous statue of Christ, symbol of Brasil, called Christo Redentor, only from a distance.
my family thinks that it is larger than the Staue of Liberty. you can say that its pretty big. it was a gift from another country to brasil (cant rememeber what european country, danggit!) its a reminder of how Christ is guarding everyone, Brasileria &me.
everywhere i would look, I could always find that statue in the distance, hovering on the mountain, protecting everyone from harm. God Blesss.
i was on the famous beach, Copacabana, the most famous in Rio, probably the most famous of alll Brasil. Unfortunatly, the day i was there, it was cloudy so the beach was with few ppl but all the same, it was pretty incredible. my first, and defiantly not the last brasileria praia :D
we only spent the afternoon, having lunch (in a grocery store? imagine that. reallly delicious though) i have to find my way back to Rio, somehow, someway. so much more to seee.
im tired of writing. ive only covered two days. BUT i promised you all details. so details IT IS.
just be patient and wait for the next posts :))) tchau
Thursday, October 7, 2010
quente~
muito desculpe que eu não tenho escrevo aqui. agora, eu escrevo para vocês..
hah that was just for my own enjoyment.
the americans are panicking that this whole post will be in portuguese. and the brasilians are laughing at how horrible my portuguese writing is. cant please everyone, all right.
anyway, ive been hearing that pennsylvania has been having horrible weather lately, rain for the past week. just to make you all hate me some more, i will discuss the weather. just a wonderful topic; im sure you all can guess what type of weather we have here.
hot, hot, hot !
last friday, october 1, i came home, sweating; i could barely breathe. my momma greets me, "Oi Ariana, tudo bem?"
I just gave her the look of "why-is-it-so-hott-here-already-and-its-not-even-summer-yet?-loooook."
i swear, the first day of october, the season just changed completely. mother nature is out to get me. I mean before, it wasnt winter but I could breathe easily.
Brasil kinda skips seasons and jumps straight into summer. actually, let me be bold and say that its always summer here. they have one season:
summer, summer, summmer, &summer
my parents said that when its january, the hottest month of the year, i will be missing october-weather. thats unbelieveable. its gonna even more weird when you all are complaining about snow, being pale, shoveling sidewalks and two-hour delays and i will be sittting next to the pool, sipping on coca-cola while reading harry potter in portuguese. man, this is nice.
other reasons to hate on me:
i leave tomorrow for Cabo Frio, a beauitful, undescriable, freaking amazing brasileria praia (beach) para uma semana com minha maé. (for a week with my mother) Cabo Frio is in the state of Rio de Janerio therefore we might be going to Rio for the day.
woah, wait what?
YEAH IM GOING TO RIO DE JANERIO !
and it just so happens that its the week of my eighteenth birthday.
can life get any better than this?
probably not, but i still have 11more months here in brasil so it probably will get better.
so now that everyone hates me, i will conclude this post.
tchau gentes
hah that was just for my own enjoyment.
the americans are panicking that this whole post will be in portuguese. and the brasilians are laughing at how horrible my portuguese writing is. cant please everyone, all right.
anyway, ive been hearing that pennsylvania has been having horrible weather lately, rain for the past week. just to make you all hate me some more, i will discuss the weather. just a wonderful topic; im sure you all can guess what type of weather we have here.
hot, hot, hot !
last friday, october 1, i came home, sweating; i could barely breathe. my momma greets me, "Oi Ariana, tudo bem?"
I just gave her the look of "why-is-it-so-hott-here-already-and-its-not-even-summer-yet?-loooook."
i swear, the first day of october, the season just changed completely. mother nature is out to get me. I mean before, it wasnt winter but I could breathe easily.
Brasil kinda skips seasons and jumps straight into summer. actually, let me be bold and say that its always summer here. they have one season:
summer, summer, summmer, &summer
my parents said that when its january, the hottest month of the year, i will be missing october-weather. thats unbelieveable. its gonna even more weird when you all are complaining about snow, being pale, shoveling sidewalks and two-hour delays and i will be sittting next to the pool, sipping on coca-cola while reading harry potter in portuguese. man, this is nice.
other reasons to hate on me:
i leave tomorrow for Cabo Frio, a beauitful, undescriable, freaking amazing brasileria praia (beach) para uma semana com minha maé. (for a week with my mother) Cabo Frio is in the state of Rio de Janerio therefore we might be going to Rio for the day.
woah, wait what?
YEAH IM GOING TO RIO DE JANERIO !
and it just so happens that its the week of my eighteenth birthday.
can life get any better than this?
probably not, but i still have 11more months here in brasil so it probably will get better.
so now that everyone hates me, i will conclude this post.
tchau gentes
Monday, September 27, 2010
CHUVA !
last tueday, at around 8:47pm Ipatinga, Brasil experienced their first rainfalll in over 3months.
yes, this is blog-worthy
i was sitting in my rooom, trying to read a brasilian magazine that a friend from school gave me and i hear my brother yell from the kitchen:
CHUVA!
"what the heck is chuva?" then i hear it.
IT'S RAINING!! holy cow
i open my window &seee buckets of rain falling and i get so excited. i dont really know why? ha
it only lasted for about 6minutes but it was much needed rain, although we havent had any since. the smell was so fresh to my nose that it was almost foreign, like i havent seen/smelled rain before in my life. ha !
Now, it is offiaically spring, no more "winter"
like you would call their winter, 'winter' ha !
unfortunatley, what comes with spring and summer is ..
polylonges.
the dreaded mosquito.
Currently, i have 9bites on my left leg, 4bites on my right thigh, 3bites on my arm, and theres one circling me as i type this very post. i. hate. polylonges. so. much.
my parents have this sweet "racket-type-zapper" that kills them instantly which we usuually keep very close to us at night when they start to appear. and ooh, do they appear.
i came home one night and my father was like, "yeah me and your mother probably killed over 100 mosquitos while you were out."
my father doesnt lie.
i was only gone for a few hours.
you know in the movies, where they have to create the sound of a bug buzzing in your ear cause sometimes, you cant catch the sound. come in my room at night and just lay in silence, you will hear that buzzzzing noise and it will drive you to the brink of instanity.
it will start buzzing, and my eyes instantly open, then it stopss, almost like it knows that i can hear it now, like the polylonge can see my hand twitching, about to reach for the prized "racket-type-zapper"
what can you do?
embrace the bitess &let the chuva fall.
yes, this is blog-worthy
i was sitting in my rooom, trying to read a brasilian magazine that a friend from school gave me and i hear my brother yell from the kitchen:
CHUVA!
"what the heck is chuva?" then i hear it.
IT'S RAINING!! holy cow
i open my window &seee buckets of rain falling and i get so excited. i dont really know why? ha
it only lasted for about 6minutes but it was much needed rain, although we havent had any since. the smell was so fresh to my nose that it was almost foreign, like i havent seen/smelled rain before in my life. ha !
Now, it is offiaically spring, no more "winter"
like you would call their winter, 'winter' ha !
unfortunatley, what comes with spring and summer is ..
polylonges.
the dreaded mosquito.
Currently, i have 9bites on my left leg, 4bites on my right thigh, 3bites on my arm, and theres one circling me as i type this very post. i. hate. polylonges. so. much.
my parents have this sweet "racket-type-zapper" that kills them instantly which we usuually keep very close to us at night when they start to appear. and ooh, do they appear.
i came home one night and my father was like, "yeah me and your mother probably killed over 100 mosquitos while you were out."
my father doesnt lie.
i was only gone for a few hours.
you know in the movies, where they have to create the sound of a bug buzzing in your ear cause sometimes, you cant catch the sound. come in my room at night and just lay in silence, you will hear that buzzzzing noise and it will drive you to the brink of instanity.
it will start buzzing, and my eyes instantly open, then it stopss, almost like it knows that i can hear it now, like the polylonge can see my hand twitching, about to reach for the prized "racket-type-zapper"
what can you do?
embrace the bitess &let the chuva fall.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)