I have officially made it through 24 hours in Brazil and let me say that I have learned more than I imagined in such a short time. Now that I am the foreigner, I see things at an outside perspective. Brazilian people are warm people that always say or act how they feel. They kiss you on each side of your cheek as an introduction to show their warmth. There is no covering up their emotions, they let everything out. I admire the way they live their lives because they don’t hide behind anything. Brazilians are real; they don’t mask behind stylish clothes, fancy hair-dos, perfect make-up, tanning salons, or require any plastic surgery. I know hard to believe?! Granted Brazil is pretty much an outdoor tanning salon, but so is Florida and California and people there would rather go to a tanning bed. Americans are consumed by aesthetics and the ideal image of “perfection”. Not here.
One word to describe Brazil… NOISE. I don’t think there is one quiet spot in Niteroi or Rio de Janeiro. Everything around me here is completely different than what I am use to (which is what I wanted). If you are a light sleeper than you won’t be able to sleep here at all, I wake up multiple times through the night from the town not sleeping, but luckily fall back asleep fast. The roads are chaotic and dangerous. Besides everything being fast paced on the roads, I have discovered that people here are slow people. I am not talking about physically slow, but rather they don’t rush through life, they take baby steps and enjoy everything along the way. They walk slowly, eat slowly, and do everything at their own pace. Being raised in America, I am accustomed to big portions for meals and a fast paced life. I almost feel like a monster compared to how these people eat, I consume my meals way faster than they do as well as eat a bigger plate than they do. Keep in mind; I am a small eater in America. Something that I learned, and on more than one occasion I have embarrassed myself by doing, is that everything here is drank out of a cup. If you get a water bottle at a restaurant or a beer at a bar you don’t just sip out of the bottle, you poor it into a cup and drink it from there. I felt like a rude slob that did not know how to be polite. It is a feeling I am foreign to considering I have always had the best manners. I am not only learning about the culture of Brazil, but also many other countries! I live with a girl from Denmark and a girl from Belgium. The other volunteers that I met are from France, Japan, Australia, Germany, South Korea, and more. Did you know that in Belgium and Denmark the government pays them to go to school?! Can you imagine not paying for loans and not needing jobs? Each one of us comes from a different background, but we all have one thing in common and that is that we all love Brazil.
Food. WOW. I have been here two days and I have started a relationship with the food. It’s AMAZING! The first thing I tried when I arrived here was this slush type of drink called Acai. My goodness it is delicious! It’s got real fruit mixed inside of it with a bunch of other wonderful ingredients that I can’t name. You can add toppings such as sprinkles or gummies or chocolate or anything. Also, there is this type of condensed milk (not like America, it’s a sweet dessert milk) and it goes on crackers or pancakes or bananas and such. It is by far the most delicious dessert that can go on anything… it’s like ranch, but for dessert. By the way… nobody here has heard of ranch. I know, my jaw dropped and my heart hurt. Ranch is good to me and knowing that these people have lived without ranch is almost saddening. Almost as sad as me living without this milk stuff for so long.
Family. I could not have asked for a better family to live with for the summer. I am living completely outside of my comfort zone, which can be scary. This family made me feel at home right away, and I already know that saying goodbye to them is going to be really hard. Even though we have a language barrier between us we have found ways to communicate. My roommate speaks English, and learned Portuguese while being here. She has acted as a translator, but she is leaving tomorrow, so the rest is up to me to learn. The mom is short with long hair and probably the sweetest woman ever. Despite not understanding each other and using gestures, she is always smiling and laughing. She is going to take me to get a manicure and pedicure next week (it’s about 6 dollars for both to be done- cheap). The dad is just as friendly and always smiling. He absolutely loves watching fighting on television and he is more built himself. The brother speaks a good amount of English and he is very nice. He works in the air force here, so he wakes up really early and I see him every once in a while. The sister I just met last night at her church. She rarely comes over to the house, because she lives at the church since she is very religious. We visited the church at night, so that my roommate can say goodbye to her. She is a very good singer and the church environment was different than what I was use to. They had two girls who were dancing during the songs and I enjoyed watching it. I got to know the family a lot tonight and it was a lot of fun! I even watched “The Last Samurai” in Portuguese and I was still entertained by it. Basically, I can’t put into words how much I love this family. I can’t wait to get to know them more and I am determined to learn Portuguese. J.
The second day was my induction day, a Projects abroad representative showed me around the town and went over paperwork. The basic stuff, but it was nice to get a local perspective on what to do and where to go. OH… beach soccer is EVERYWHERE!! I picked the perfect country. It was 9:00 at night and all along the beach people were playing soccer. She said something about how I can join a team while I am here, so I am going to look into doing that. I love this country.
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