pei-tien's blog

Last night I went out with Juliana and a bunch of ITA students to this all you can eat pizza place. The restaurant, which had its own valet parking, serves pizza with all kinds of toppings including tiny potatoes shaped like french fries, chocolate sauce, ice cream, and fruits. The sweet toppings are served as dessert. Different waiters come around the tables with different kinds of pizzas, and on each table there is a sign for you to indicate whether you want salty pizzas, sweet pizzas or none.

The dinner was held for students who come from Sarra (I think it´s a region in Brasil) to study in São José and it is also one of the numerous welcoming events for the first year students. There were only 5 girls including myself at the dinner and approximately 50 guys (90% of students in ITA are all guys). During dinner all the freshmen had to do whatever the older students tell them to do. At one point there were 4 young guys standing in front of me saying the would like to sing me a song and it was `I Will Always Love You´ Haha, just that one phrase, followed by the Brazilian kiss and greet *blush* ;)

Re: Kisses

Brazilians, of course, greet everyone with kisses (called beijos in Portuguese) and a one-armed hug. But the number of kisses they give depends which region they come from. Here in the São Paulo region people greet one and another with just one kiss. But since most students in ITA are from other parts of Brasil, it´s always different.

Re: Bus System

Buses here in São José do not run on schedules. Bus stops here in São José do not have any postings regarding schedules, of course, since buses don't run on schedules, but nor do they indicate which buses stop there. If that doesn't already sound too scary, once you are on the bus, you need to tell the driver to stop at the next stop at the next stop before your stop. To clarify that last statement: You are sitting (or perhaps standing) on the bus, and the bus has reached the stop before your designated stop. You will have to say (or perhaps shout) to the bus driver to stop at the next stop. Ok, I haven't taken the local buses here yet, but from what I hear from a Polish trainee, which were the above, I think I will try to walk.

Labels: Door #1: The Brazil Experience