A Day in the Life of Megan in Brazil

I've been in Brazil for about six weeks now and I'm starting to develop somewhat of a routine. I'm convinced none of my devoted followers will enjoy reading today's post, and some may even abandon me for such a lame excuse for a post, but some people, and by "some people" I am refering to soley my parents, are positive people would enjoy reading what I do on a daily basis. So, I will share it with you now. WARNING: THE POST YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ CONTAINS VERY MUNDANE CONTENT. NOT APPROPRIATE FOR THOSE WHO ARE SLEEPY, BORED, OR SIMPLY HAVE BETTER THINGS THEY SHOULD BE DOING AT THIS TIME.

On weekdays, I normally wake up around 6:15 in the morning. Around 7:00, I walk to school with two of my classmates. In school, I have six classes, of which I understand next to nothing in all of them. After the third class, there is about a twenty minute break to get something to eat at the school cafe, use the restroom and talk. The last class ends at 12:20 and I usually arrive home around 12:30. When I arrive, my parents are waiting to eat lunch. One of my favorite parts of the day! After, I usually take a nap or get on the computer for about an hour. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I have natacao, swimming, at the gym near my house. I walk there and have class for about an hour. Then from about 3:00 to 6:00, I do pretty much whatever my little heart desires. Sometimes I go out with friends, sometimes I read, sometimes I sleep more, sometimes I run errands with my host mom. It kinda just depends on the day. Around 3:00 or 4:00, I usually tomo cafe, eat a little something. Normally, its some sort of bread, maybe some fruit, cake, whatever we happen to have. But it's not something you prepare. Its just a little something. But I almost always have coffee at this time. At 6:00 the novelas start! First, I watch Escrito nas Estrelas, Written in the Stars, and then Tititi, which doesn't translate. I'm not sure but I think it's a name. And some days I also watch Passione. Then, around nine or so, I usually head to bed. On the weekends, I have a very different schedule that varies a lot. But usually on Friday and Saturday nights I got out with my friends. Sometimes to a resturant where we eat and talk forever, sometimes to watch a movie at someones house, sometimes to a party. It just depends. On Sundays, sometimes my family and I got to Mantutina to visit my host mom's mom. Its an even smaller city than Sao Gotardo about twenty minutes from here. And so in a paragraph, thats pretty much my life here in Brazil. Goin' to school, hangin' out, eatin' pastel. And don't get me wrong, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! I THINK IT'S THE COOLEST THING EVER! I just think reading about it is far less exciting than actually doing it. And I don't know how many times I have already and will say this, but for me, truly, the most exciting part is that I do it all in Portuguese! Well, not all of it, but most of it!

Another thing, now that I'm getting somewhat familiar with my city, some may tell you otherwise because I'm absolutely horrible with direction, I am starting to notice some differences. Some you may find interesting, others, just plain shocking. And I'm sure I will probably leave out about one hundred but these are the most obvious ones, and also the ones I thought my readers would appreciate most.

1. There is hardly any grass. I mean, seriously, you would think I live in New York City or something.
2. Resturants are usually open air. That is, you sort of just walk in through a breezeway and sit down, theres no doors that remain closed during business hours.
3. There is absolutely no air conditioning. If its hot, you open the windows. If its cold, you close the windows. It's much cheaper that way.
4. In every house I have been in, a gas stove is used. I have not seen a single electric stove yet.
5. Everyone here drives either a stick shift or a motorcycle.
6. There are no posted speed limit signs in the city. Roads just have randomly placed speed bumps so that drivers are forced to slow down.
7. No one has carpeted floors.
8. Television has far fewer and frequent commercials. It's fantastic.
9. I'm not sure on this one, but I think some places don't charge tax.
10. It's almost election time and so cars drive around with these huge speakers roped to the roof of the car or the trunk playing songs to promote certain candidates. Lots of times, they take already famous songs and change the words. They are often very repetative and catchy. Its at times very annoying because your sitting outside with your friends enjoying some pastel, trying to partake in intellectual, mentally stimulating conversation, and all the sudden you hear this song playing you already heard a million times. It starts of quite, then gets louder, and before you know it, its all you can here! I can't wait until election day!

Ate mais! Tchau!

O Vestibular

minha convite! my invitation!

almost the entire third year in my school!

the older guy is the dj and i was the first american he ever met!

my best brazilian friend!

i actually know all their names.

In Brazil, you can attend college for free! IF, you take this test called the vestibular and your scores qualify. However, every november, there are millions of graduates throughout Brazil competing for the same few spots you are. Its a much bigger deal than the ACT or SAT because the vestibular is what determines if you get in or not. At most you can take ten. Only one per university and you have to choose which curso, course, you are going to study. It's sort of like declaring a major, but more strict. If during your course of study, you decide you would like to change your course, you have to take the vestibular again! Everyone takes the same vestibular, no matter what course you want to study. In order to get ready for this monster of a test, you take o cursinho. Litterally, it means "little course". And that's exactly what it is. Its during the evenings, and for one year you attend classes covering all subjects. My school offers o cursinho. And to celebrate everyone's hard work, they threw a party! This was actually some time ago but I took so many pictures I was dreading putting them on here because the uploader demora, muito! It is very slow! And after lots of time fighting with it, I decided to only put a few on here. It was a great party! One of the first few I went to and at the end, my brain was very tired. And at this party, a friend, a few actually, tried to teach me this type of dance. It was nearly impossible for me. After, I was conviced God accidentally gave me two left feet instead of one right and one left. Dreadful dancing aside, it was a good time.

Today marks the day that I have been in Brazil for ONE MONTH! I can't believe it! Time has flown by! I only have nine more of these left! And in honor of my one month anniversary, I have made myself a promise to speak less English! Porque sou brasiliera, vou comecar falando so portgues. Nada mais de ingles. Entao, acho que voces vai ter que aprender portugues! Hehe. Just kidding. I will make one exception to speak English in this blog and with my non-Portuguese speaking friends and family. But if anyone wants to learn, it's a very cool language! But you might want to wait until I come back to ask me for help. Because right now, o meu portugues ainda e muito ruim! My Portuguese is still very bad!

Thats everything for this post! Tchau! Um beijo!

Feliz Dia da Independencia! (Happy Independence Day!)

Parabens Brasil! Happy September 7th! Its Independence Day! On September 7, 1822, Brazil was declared independent, by the Portuguese themselves! In fact, the King of Portugal himself promised, "By my blood, by my honor, and by God: I will make Brazil free!" And adopted the motto Independencia ou Morte, "Independence or Death".

In Brazil, if a holiday falls on a day not immediately before or after the weekend, they just extend the holiday. For example, today is Brazil's Independence Day, but since it fell on a Tuesday, yesterday was also declared a holiday!

I'm sorry to say but I'm not too sure how Brazil celebrates this day. I didn't attend any celebration or parade in honor of Brazil's day of independence. In fact, no one even discussed this day with me or told me happy September 7th. However, if you would like to know more, click here.

O Supermercado (The Supermarket)

the gas stations are pretty much the same here. the red one is 1,79 reais/liter, the green is 1,85 reais/liter, and the blue is 2,75 reais/liter.

wow!

guarana! the minas way! its a brazilian soda made with guarana, some sort of energy booster. its put in lots of energy drinks in the united states, and sometimes even gum! and because of this pictures content, i have to give a shout out to my pops!

ahhh! look! i'm shopping in Brazil!

milk! they don't refrigerate it here until after opening! and even then, they're kinda lax about how long it sits out before it gets put back in the refrigerator! its 4,85 reais for 4 liters. about $2.50.

Shopping, at least in my house, is done mostly in the supermarket. Which, by the American standard, isn't really, all-that super. The two supermarkets I have been to are about one-eighth of the size of the teeniest, tiniest, Wal-Mart in the United States. However, other than size and the milk part( I just can't get over that), its pretty much the same. There is a bakery section, padaderia, a butcher section, acougue, dairy, fruits and vegetables, canned and dry goods, ect. The bakery section is by-far my favorite. They have all sorts of yummy breads. One of my favorites is pao de queijo. Its name means cheese bread but its not the sort of cheese bread you are thinking of right now. Its sort of like a roll, and the inside is kind of gooey, I guess. The cheese is kind of baked in and the flavor of cheese is not super strong. Its very yummy and most of the time its homemade. Mmmm, que sabor! Also, the oranges here are green on the outside! Its a little strange but the orange itself tastes much better. Just like the pineapple. They are sweeter and juicier and just more gostoso. Which I guess means good, or flavorful, or yummy. Somethings just don't translate that easily. On my first trip to the supermarket, once we were done shopping and my host mom had paid and all the groceries were bagged, we just left. Empty-handed. No groceries. And I had no idea why or what was going on but my Portuguese was even worse than it is now and I didn't know how to ask and was positive I wouldn't be understand to her response so I just decided to wait this one out. And about an hour after we got home, someone was at the door. It was a dude from the supermarket delivering our groceries via motorcycle! It was very cool.

Speaking of shopping, its sort of different here. All electronics here are more expensive than in the United States. And imported electronics cost about twice as much as what you would pay in the United States. In my city, Sao Gotardo, there are no shoppings, malls. It's sort of downtown Jefferson City-style shopping. Only with a wider selection of stores which are open more business hours. And there are no chain stores. Everything is a little, privately owned shop. The downtown area is very cute! Most clothing items cost about the same as what you would pay in the United States. One huge difference I've noticed is that when you go shopping, there is usually one of each thing (for example, one floral top, one pair of dark-wash, straight leg jeans), no same style, array of sizes and colors like in the United States. And if you like something you just try it on. Forget about checking the size. Also, very few stores here accept debit cards and ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE accepts American money.

Which leads me to my next experience. O banco! The bank! The banking experience is very different here from in the united states. I haven't seen a bank yet with a drive-up teller or ATM lanes. You always have to park the car, get out, and go in. Also, the banks have a lot more security. Not in all banks, but lots, you first walk in through the outside door into a sort-of-lobby. Then, you go through a revolving door with metal detectors, to enter the area where you actually do your banking. And only one person at a time can go through the revolving door. And there are usually couple of security guards with huge night sticks and guns wearing vests. And some of the bank employees are behind those panes, like the ones you find at the ticket window in the typical American cinema. And its a little strange to walk up to an ATM, put your debit card in, do everything just as you would in the United States, then get this colorful paper back, that looks nothing like the money you've looked at and used for the last eighteen years. But I just love how here in Brazil, what would be a dreaded hassle in the United States, is a fun, new, exciting, learning experience!

Alugmas Fotos da Minha Chegada (Some Photos of My Arrival)

yay! im finally here! they gave me flowers and the sign, which says: Meg, we are very happy with your arrival.

my host parents.

my host family. from left to right, Pedro, Me, Walter, Adrianna.

some people from my host rotary club.

now that sign is hanging outside of my house!

my very own bathroom! i didn't even have that in the united states. i'm very spoiled here...

my room. there is another sign in my room (which is still hanging up :) ) that says: Meg, today begins a new chapter in our lives. welcome to your new home.

the other side of my room.

even the paperclips are different. you can't say that isn't awesome.

my official brazilian document. i wasn't supposed to smile but it was the day i arrived and i was just so stinkin happy. it makes me laugh every time i look at :)

some currency. its called the real. pronounced ''hay-al''. and when you have more than one real, you have reais. pronoucned ''hay-ice''. one dollar is about 1.75 reais.

translation: welcom to brazil. sao gotardo ''recieves you'' with
open arms.

The First Few Weeks...

I LOVE BRAZIL! The people are the friendliest in the world, the food is the best I've ever had, and the language is really stinkin' awesome! My host family is increadibly welcoming and accomadating! Life in Brazil is absolutely wonderful.

I just cannot stop raving about the food. Here in Brazil, I eat about five times a day. Breakfast, a sandwhich between breakfast and lunch, lunch, dinner, and again before I go to bed. Lunch is the biggest meal. It's ready when I get home from school, around noon. Everyday, without fail, we have rice and beans (arroz e feijao), salad, some sort of meat, fruit, and usually some sort of potato or some other side. Everything is so yummy! And almost everyday my host parents ask me if I would like some dessert, which I just can't say no too. On my first day in Brazil, I ate chicken heart (a coracao do frango). And it was surprisingly delicious. Here in Brazil, when you eat something you like, you say "Mmmmm. Que sabor!" Without a doubt, my favorite food here is ''pastel de chocolate''. Its like a huge, thin pasta-pocket and you can put whatever you want in it, and then it is fried! So, ''pastel de chocolate'' is essentially fried chocolate! It is heavenly! Here in my city, Sao Gotardo, there is no McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell; nothing like that. And I love it! It's very hard to get away from the American culture sometimes. And all the resteraunts are sort of buffet style. You get a plate, and serve yourself whatever you like, and then you take it to the cash register, where you pay according to the weight of the food you got. And no where has soda fountains where you get free refills, you either buy a can, a bottle, or a liter. And usually, the liters are reusable and made of glass! Que legal! And when I was eating my favorite food, ''pastel de chocolate'' the other day, a friend bought the glass bottle for me because I thought it was so cool!

The people here are the nicest in the world! And when people find out I'm American, it is like I'm a celebrity! People want to shake my hand and talk to me! Surprisingly often I'm the first American people have met. Everyone at school is very nice and lots of fun! And since everyone is Sao Gotardo is ''mineira'', someone from the state "Minas Gerais", they see with their hands. The culture is very close and touchy. When you say hello and goodbye, you hug and kiss on the cheek. And when people talk to you they are usally touching you. It's very different from American culture in that way. Some days I don't like it all that much, but most days it just makes me feel extra loved!

Ahhhh, Portuguese. I would like to say I've completely mastered it and never struggle with it at all. But thats sadly, incredibly far from the truth. When I got on the flight to Brazil in Miami, I was already sitting and there were three adults talking in another language, I didn't know what it was but I assumed it was French. I didn't know for sure, but from the looks of it, it seemed as though they were having trouble locating their seats. Finally, a lady sat next to me and she said something in this language I didn't understand. And I just looked at her, didn't say anything. And so she said something else. And I just kept looking, not saying anything. And after about thirty seconds, I just said, "I don't know"'. And then the women just started cracking up! And when she could finally talk, she said, still sort of laughing, ''Sorry, I thought you were brasileira!" And thats when I thought, ''What the heck am I doing here! I can't even tell when someone is speaking my future language!'' AND THEN, when I got of the plane in Belo Horzonte, I saw my host family and I said "Hi!'' And I thought again, "What the heck have I got myself into?!'' And for about the first two or three days I just walked around with a big, stupid grin on my face and smiled and nodded, and occassionally laughed when someone would say something to me. And I practically understood nothing anyone said to me, even when they spoke uncomforatably slowly. But, I can say, that in only three weeks, my Portuguese has come very far. Everything my tutor taught me is coming back and I'm actually forming full sentecnes! Sometimes I even muster up the courage to tell a story! I watch a lot of novelas, Brazilian soap operas, here. They are very good and they help me learn new phrases. Its strange, though, to watch tv for an hour and only understand about twenty sentences. I can't understand anything the teachers say in school. Unless they through out some random English word, usually when I'm zoning out, and then I look up like, "What just happened?'' Every Thursday I have to take ''as provas'', quizes, and I only answer about three questions. Excpet in the English section, I fill out the entire thing. Correctly. At times it's difficult and normally it's mentally exhausting but I love it sooooooooo much!

That's all for my first post! Please ask lots of questions! I really love to talk about Brazil and how I'm doing here!