Brasília

I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post. I really thought it was like a few weeks. Oops.lol. Anyways, I’m here to tell you all about the wonderful Brazilian capital city of Brasília!  

We arrived Sunday afternoon after over 12 hours of travel. Our van came to pick us up at 4am. Michol and I went to a friend’s birthday party the night before and got back around 2. Needless to say I was exhausted. It really didn’t matter though because I was TOO geeked. And rightfully so. The 2012 Fulbright Brazil ETAs are a paragon of awesomeness.  We all met up at the mall as our flights got in at different times. It was SO refreshing to hear about other people’s experiences both in and out of their host cities. I’d even venture to say I made a new friend.  Maria if you’re reading this I’m talking about you! ;)

Monday we went to this fancy restaurant where the food was served a course at a time. When we got to Araguaína, I kept passing this shop with this gorgeous one-piece in the window. One day I didn’t see it anymore and decided to go ask about it. They hadn’t sold it so I bought it. It was more expensive than my usual taste, but I decided to treat myself.  I’m still pleased with that decision J

Tuesday was Chapada Imperial. We were told “nature walk.” I was like cool, I got this one in the bag. If you remember from my http://ambernicolej.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/waterfalls.html post last month, “nature walk” meant chest-high natural pools. So naturally I brought my slide in sandals to slide off when we came to water. Silly me. “Nature walk” in Brasília means 5 hour, 400m vertical hike. I didn’t feel well at all that morning, but my trusty cohorts made the day a blast.

(What I thought we were doing, II)

(What we were actually doing, II)

Wednesday. Sit-chee-too. I said “Excuse me?” at which point Valeria Englishified her Brazilianized version of the words “City Tour.” We got a good laugh out of that one. Anyway, it was an enjoyable day. Long, but we were able to get out and take pictures like these ones and stretch. We were also able to see that 36 different groups of people are on strike.

 (From where the picture is taken the acoustics are as such that you can hear clearly someone standing on the other end. The world is such a skeptical place cuz I immediately wondered if it was rigged with a microphone.)

(The cool kids in front of Congress)

 Fourth and Final Day.  Epicness took place Thursday night. We saw DJ Chocolatey at a club of “Musica Black” (yeah, that’s what it sounds like,lol) After a while, everybody else just left and the DJ started takin our requests.  He was pretty on point for a while even without our help.

(End of the night)

So that was Brasília. More to come next week!

More time down than to go...

My blog post for this week is a short one. This past week hasn’t been adventurous in the sense that I went somewhere cool and took great photos. This week has been one of those learning weeks. Michol took off for the Amazon a week ago. With her gone I was literally the only person in my entire apartment complex.  I had a fear of living alone. I honestly think this was God’s way of pushing me out of that fear. Now I feel like if I can live in a complex in a foreign country alone, I can live just about anywhere. 

I think it also has to do with this new spiritually conscious mindset I have. I keep reciting verses in my head, like Psalms 56:3 and “The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”  It helps too when I’m walking alone (and I secretly think I might be attacked by a street dog cuz I smell like kitty,lol)  But  In the wake of the deaths of two young people associated with me and the Batman movie shooting, I was instilled with this hope.  Our lives really are just a vapor and God didn’t intend for us to walk through this life afraid.  I believe that while we have free choice, God already knows what we’re gonna choose and it’s all part of his master plan.  When I think on that, it’s hard not to be at peace. 

Like I can really feel God’s presence in my every day.   When Michol took off the cat started crying. Really crying all night and much of the day because she’s used to sleeping in Michol’s bed. She wasn’t sleeping in my bed so we were just at war this week. She kept me up all night and in an effort to make her diurnal, I kept her up all day.  I almost took her to Valeria’s house, but I really thought God was trying to teach me patience so I kept at it. Sure enough as the days went by I was less and less bothered until one morning I realized that her crying didn’t bother me at all. And last night, for the first time in a week she was relatively quiet all night. I’m letting her sleep more today so I don’t know if it will last but the point is that the process will be a calm one. 

I’m hoping to use the patience, forgiveness, and mercy I’m learning with kitty on the other people in my life. And, And, And Kitty kills cockroaches!!!!! Yep cockroaches! She used to just play with them but now she’s old enough to hunt. I think she ate the first one and it probably didn’t taste good so now she just leaves them dead. Pride. Um… I thought class at the farm by myself yesterday that was fun. I think they understood me, lol. No it went fine, I’m gonna go every class.  I love the farm, especially the drive. Living in the dust you forget how much beautiful green space is literally 10 mins away.

Last but not least, my box came!! Been eatin apples and peanut butter, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches.  Yum. And learned how to tune my guitar. And it’s week 17 of my 17 week fitness journey. Tomorrow is an hour on the treadmill. Praise God cuz He really gets me through. I realized I run about 4 ½ miles an hour now so after I take some time to acknowledge this feat, I’ll up my speed until I can run 5 miles in an hour. Then I’m gonna stop,lol. I think 5 miles three times a week for the rest of life if God sees it that way is a good plan.  

I sat in the house all weekend cuz everybody’s gone. As much as I tried to tell myself I wasn’t I was kinda lonely.  Then I thought, “What are you doing, you’re wasting the time God entrusted to you. Go move.” And as soon as I started doin stuff, more opportunities appeared! So, like I said this week was one of those emotion-filled learning weeks.  I have a little more initiative, patience, and courage than I did the day before.  All in all it’s been a good week.  And it’s not over yet. I’m excited. I’m happy.

Waterfalls

As you can probably guess from the title, we saw more waterfalls.  You can never really get tired of waterfalls, especially not one of the ones I saw this past Sunday. Elisa and family invited Michol and me to go to Pedra Caida a park just outside of Carolina, Maranhão.  In order to leave Tocantins, it appears as though you have to cross a river.  Last week, we crossed the Araguaia River west into Pará.  This week it was the Tocantins River to the east.  Both Carolina and Conceção de Araguaia border Tocantins the way St. Louis borders Illinois.

On the drive the boys got hungry so we stopped in a random little town in front of a random little store.  But it turns out the town and the store weren’t random at all. While we’re stretching our legs, Rosy’s sister and brother-in-law drive up. It’s their store. Crazy, right? 

(This picture is mostly here because I'd never seen the back of this shirt on me and was excited. I'm a dork, it's okay. lol)

(Us on our second ferry out of Tocantins. I didn't pose for this picture as you can see from the hand movement, but I find it rather interesting that the rest of me is so still)

Once in the park, you pay for a tour to see the waterfall Santuario (Santuary).  Michol, Elisa, and I took our backpacks.  They told us we had to go and come back with the group. That we’d leave at one and get back at three.  I thought we were going to walk past it, take pictures, and maybe sit at some touristy rest stop and admire the view.  Apparently, everybody else knew something that we didn’t.  After hiking down into the hillside we see water coming off a wall and stop to take pictures. I thought that was it until the guide told us we had to keep going.  Eventually everyone starts taking off their flip-flops. So, we do too,lol. Turns out you have to wade through a canyon filled with waist to chest high water. So we carry our backpacks over our heads and thankfully find a dry spot to nestle them in the mossy wall.

(What I thought we were doing)

(What we were actually doing,lol)

When you get over the rocks and turn the corner you see it. It was literally one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen in my entire life and I immediately understood the name. Like when you first got in there the shock of the cold took your breath away and you couldn’t even look up at it because water was falling in your face. But once you braced yourself, the view/experience was spectacular.

(To give you an idea of how massive this thing is its just over 150 ft high and about 40 ft wide)

On a God treats your life in simple situations moment, I spent the whole walk down wondering why they had these bars sticking out of the ramp. They were uncomfortable and to me it seemed like it’d be easier to make it down (or up) without having to dodge their attempt at steps.  What I did not know it that I’d be soaked on the walk back and thus in thankful desire of the same preconceived painful annoyance.  Moral of the story. God knows more about your life than you do. 

Then we packed up and went to our second waterfall which was actually two. The twin waterfalls of Itapecuru to be exact. (They must be fraternal,lol) This place was a lot more swim friendly as it had shallow water for kids and deep water near the falls.

The drive home was obviously pitch black but the stars were incredible. I don't know much about astronomy, but I'm pretty sure I saw the big/little dippers. At about 9 pm we pulled into a fish restaurant and at about 10:30 I rolled into bed. Tiring but awesome. Till next week. 

Beach

So…. In the last ten days I went to the beach!!! It’s not the coast, but it was beautiful. See, Tocantins has natural non-touristic beauty and the Rio Araguaia (Araguaia River) is one of those beauties.  The river provides a border between my state and Pará to the north.  Our trip was to Conceção de Araguaia, Pará.

We stayed with a girl named Andréia.  She’s from Conceção and is living in Araguaína while she attends law school here.  She is one of the most fashionable people I’ve ever met. In fact, everybody here is.  Going out is like going to a real-life shopping mall where people are mannequins.  We met Andréia through Camilia, another one of my good friends here.  Camilia is one of our students at UFT. Her mom makes some of the best feijoada I’ve ever tasted. Feijoada is a typical Brazilian dish. It’s made of beans (Feijão) and sausage and other goodness.  Camilia is studying abroad in Argentina this semester and won’t be back until December, i.e. after we leave for the states. Sadness. So, I decided to go spend a week to make a new friend, say bye to an old one, and see a beach all at the same time. Camila’s married to Daniel. She met him during a semester abroad in Portugal (where he’s from). Daniel lives in Brazil now and works at CNA (the school that hosted the American Camp). 

The restaurants, tables, chairs, and everything was in the water

The tents and stuff from far away

Michol, Andreia, Camila, Daniel

me

My first day in the water I was psyched cuz was the first time I had seen sand since I got here.  As I’m running into the water Andreia is like, “Woah, don’t do that”. She then told me that the Araguaia River has stingrays. They typically don’t come to the area where we are because they’re scared of the people and usually only come out at night, but we try to be careful anyway. That simply meant walking slowly and dragging your feet. Not sure what that does, but if you say so I believe you.  We actually met a guy who had been stung.  We went to the beach every day. We also went to a beach luao one night.  It’s not the Hawaiian luau you may be thinking of. In Portuguese, moon is lua so luao is a party under the moon.  The party goers were hard core Brazilian rockers who love lots of old-school American rock bands. None of which I knew much about,lol.  Still a great time. With a great view. The beach had the biggest moon you ever did see and clear nights so you could actually watch the moon rise and set if you sat outside long enough.

We went to the farm. Two of them actually. I had a circle of farm-fresh cheese in my fridge before the trip courtesy of Rosy’s mom but this trip I got to see it made.  You just milk the cows put coagulator in it, after an hour you put the curdled milk in those circle presses and let it sit out to dry. Yum. I also saw chicken’s killed, defeathered, cut up and put into bags. I left those pictures off for your sake.  Got on a horse for the first time since Chile. It was funny to say the least. They were 20 year old cattle horses. They like us were also hot so they just weren’t feeling the joy ride or ride giving in their case. Every time we passed the gate my horse tried to veer back.  After about 10 or 15 minutes I just let him go and he walked himself (us) back to the gate and waited for me to get down and open it,lol. I laughed uncontrollably.

They had pet monkeys at the first farm. Like they were in the trees and dude was like come eat and they came.

These are pineapples that grow on the ground. Lots and lots of pineapple plants.

 The beautiful Brazilian countryside

Lastly, we were asked if we wanted to see a Sertanejo show.  It was pretty costly in Brazilian terms, but it was vacation and would be an experience.  We said sure expecting a random dupla to sing at a bar.  What we got was a concert. Like a real one. With special effects and everything. It didn’t start till 1:30am and went till 3:30. It actually started at 1:40 but 10 minutes late is 15 mins early on Brazil time.  I slept before the show so I was alert. During the pre-show waiting music. The lazy song played, cool. The next song was PIMP by 50 Cent. I was thoroughly amused. 

Sertanejo is danced in couples. People generally get lost here when you ask them to dance by themselves. They think I'm the best dancer ever. I'm not,lol. 

So that’s more or less my beach experience. Till next time.

4 months down, 5 months to go

Well, we’ve reached the mid-way point.  Five months to take advantage of this beautiful experience I’ve been blessed with.  It’s a mid-way point for you, too. Today is July 1^st.  Time take all those New Year’s resolutions you broke and try them again,lol.  But seriously, I love this time off year. It allows me to reflect on the ways I’ve grown in the first half of the year and to think about where I’d like to see myself at the year’s end.  Do my best to stop trying to control everything and let God guide my will to align with His. I also read this great phrase which I’d enjoy sharing. “Never worry about what may happen in the future because if it doesn’t happen you’ve worried for nothing. And if it does, you have to worry twice”

As for events Michol and I got to go to an indigenous reservation.  The Xerente there were having a naming ceremony where they registered babies into the community. It was a unique experience to say the least.  I’m not posting pictures because I don’t know if I have their permission and I just wouldn’t do that anyway.  We went with the indigenous group on campus.  I was nervous because not only are we not indigenous but we’re not even Brazilian (obviously,lol) They were so welcoming though and seemed genuinely excited to share their culture with us.  They told us we could move about/take pictures freely. The only restriction they had was that everyone had to be painted. So I watched them make henna-like paint and was covered in it for a while.  I also met the resident pastor (a really cute intelligent old guy) who spoke really good English although he didn’t believe me.  He said the men who trained him were English-speaking missionaries. I said I hope my Portuguese is as good as his English when I get to be his age.

We took part in Flit (International Literary Fair of Tocantins).  We along with Elisa and another woman named Geane gave a four-hour workshop about sustainability.  Aplitins is the Association of English Language Professors of Tocantins and Elisa is the president.  The workshop was for public school English teachers.  Sustainability is a practice that doesn’t really exist here.  People throw their trash on the ground and the only recycling is at the university.  And even there people don’t do it.  But it was a good experience. The next day we went to another workshop Alessandra was presenting about phonetics.  It was really helpful in understanding why my students have a hard time pronouncing certain sounds and gave me ideas on how to teach them better J

You’re getting your post today because I’m going to the beach tomorrow. One of our friends is going abroad for the semester and won’t be home until after we leave so I’d like to spend some time with her before she goes.  One of the great things about this program over previous abroad experiences that I’ve had is that I have friends here. I have an incredible bond with my host family in Chile, for example, but I never made any lasting friendships with other Chileans.  I’m glad for having done so this time around.

So, I got on my professional game this week. Got a legit e-mail address, updated my resume, etc. A big decision this week is that I decided to apply to Vanderbilt. The deadline to take the GRE for them to get the scores on time is Oct. 22^nd so I’m excited to have a “concrete” study goal in mind.  And my mom is sending me a care-package.  Complete with study book and other goodies I’ve been missing here.

So… that’s it. Below are the pics I promised of the Aloha Party. See you next week.

This last picture is a bonus. It's a moto taxi. You can tell who they are because they where blue long sleeve shirts and orange vests which must be a killer this time of year.  Moto taxis are half the price of regular taxis and my transport of choice whenever Michol's not around.  (I'm talking casually now, but my first day on one I literally had a hand ache from holding on so tightly,lol) When I first got here I used to be amazed at the women who wore dresses and heels and rode side saddle. I'm not so amazed anymore but I definitely still think it's a talent or a skill. 

American Camp

I'm really proud of myself for staying on track with the weekly blog posts. Not sure who reads them, but if nothing else forcing myself to do this is a good lesson in self-discipline. Anyways, what did I do this weekend? I went to American Camp. Where students at CNA got to meet a real live American. Yep. Now, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like we were being objectified into "the other" for all my LAS readers. We actually helped. So although the camp was being held at a chacara literally 1.25 miles outside of the city, the students took a bus which was really cute. While we were waiting to take off all these people in costumes started walking past us. Not sure what was happening but I decided to photo document it anyway.

And they arrived. This is where all their major activities, food, shows and such happened. It was a really nice place. In fact I found out that one of the students had just gotten married there last month.

Walk a little further in and you get acquainted with the floresta (tropical). Students kept asking me how to say floresta in English. The closest thing I could come up with was tropical forest but as I explained we don't need a word for it cuz we don't have it,lol.

They slept in tents and everything.

They even had potato sack races, three-legged races, capture the flag, and tug-of-war. They introduced me to a game called quemada which is kinda like a more complicated dodgeball. The last game was a pop chugging contest. The last round was campers vs. staff. I got asked to play. Luckily I was last and the campers smoked us to I never had to chug my cup of guarana.

At the end of the night they had a Saturday night live followed by a campfire and s'mores. I gave a free concert singing I got a feeling, I'm yours, Oh happy day, and Someone like you (cuz those are some of the most popular English songs in my city)while the rest of the staff got ready for their skits.

After a great weekend of reminders of home including "American" food we got ready to board the bus. But it got stuck... twice. 

After some time we got back on the road and drove the ten minutes back to the city. It was a great weekend  with great people and grass. Yay for grass. Till next time.

Strike and a Toucan

I am an English Teaching Assistant (ETA) at the Federal University of Tocantins (my state). The 31 students in my group are all teaching at Federal Universities and the Federal Universities of Brazil have gone on STRIKE. Yep, Strike. If you remember from an earlier post, our first workshop was moved because it was scheduled for April 27^th, the day of the paralisação.  That day there was a freeze on teaching as a warning to the Brazilian government that they would strike if their demands weren’t met. They weren’t and as of May 17^th, one by one the universities began to stop.  At first this didn’t really affect everyone all that much. Classes were still being taught, students were still coming to campus, but as time goes on UFT has begun to look like a ghost town.

So what are we doing since we’re not teaching classes. Well, I’ve spent a lot of time working on our program blog. If you wana check it out, here’s the link : http://etauft.blogspot.com.br/ If you’re reading from the states, I’m pretty sure it works with or without the “.br” Starting today, every Wednesday I’ll be making a blog post about American holidays, traditions, and adding assignments that the students can do and I can correct. I’m also trying to meet with the students in random locations throughout the city to practice in an informal conversational setting. My first attempt was a fail. I said I’d be somewhere at 21:00 or 9 p.m. I waited till 9:45 cuz I know South Americans have a tendency to be late. At about 10:15 I was informed that students were waiting for me. Le sigh. So, next week I’m going to try these English Round Tables twice, take a book with me,lol, and let you know how they go.

We’ve visited a couple of our students’ estagios.  That just means their student teaching internships. There’s this literary fair going on this weekend: music, poetry, workshops. Michol and I have helped plan a 4 hour seminar tomorrow and will be presenting there. Our guitar teacher is playing tomorrow night as well.  Also, Michol and I are going to an American Camp this weekend. This school here called CNA is hosting it. Michol and I attended an Aloha Party they had last month so next week’s post will have pictures from both of those events!

In addition to working, cleaning, working out, getting stuff re-fixed,lol, I’ve also had the chance to travel a little. The pictures below are from our trip to Uberlandia. There was a Portuguese language congress in Uberlandia complete with a free luxury bus ride. Obviously, Michol and I went,lol. The picture below is the bus but I posted it because everyday we were there is was someone's birthday!

We stayed with the lovelies Maria and Olivia. They are ETAs at UFU (Federal University of Uberlandia) I didn't really get to know them that well at our conference in Sao Paulo this February so it was GREAT getting to know them. They are the sweetest and I can't wait to see them and the other ETAs in August.

 Part of their job there is to attend English classes for the elderly. It was so cute! The classes are offered as part of the university. They're free although you can only participate for a year I think. Either way I had a great time and the lady in the very middle of the picture was cool. She's 80 something and has a great grandson in the states but he doesn't speak Portuguese. That part made me sad but she's well traveled. They were doing an exercise about NYC and where they'd like to visit and she was like "I've been to all these places,lol, and asked me and I'm like yeah... I've never been to New York,lol)

Then it happened. When I least expected it. I was at the university attending a class Maria and Olivia help teach when I heard this really large noise in the tree. Olivia's like... It's a toucan. Seriously? Yep. I know I need some culture cuz I definitely thought, "He doesn't really look like the one on the box,lol" But I was SO excited.

So now you understand why I started my post with the strike

(they want better working conditions, higher salaries, and restructuring)

Lastly, a photo from a restaurant/bar with some students. We stayed there for hours and not one song of sertanejo (the pop country on 24/7 in Araguaina). It was nice to change the station for a while.

So there you have it. I'm gonna try to be better about putting events and such up here, but if you're ever curious you know how to reach me. Till next time