pei-tien's blog

Chocolates last Wednesday. Chocolates last Thursday. --Intermission-- Chocolates on Sunday. Chocolates this Monday. Chcolates this Tuesday. Chocolates this Wednesday. Chocolate pizzas Thursday. More chocolates yesterday. Meu Deus! I think I have enough chocolates for a while ;)

During Easter(Páscoa) last week I went to Ubatuba again but to a different beach this time called Praia Enseada. There were about 17 of us and we stayed at a very nice townhouse-style house, which also had a large pool and BBQ area in the courtyard. It was such a relaxing time for me, and the whole 4-days weekend included going to the beach, lounging by the pool, playing card games, singing and playing guitars, climbing the seawall, and kayaking in the sea.

Re: Kayaking

I tried kayaking for the first time on Sunday and ended up being rescued by a boat! Nmm... it´s kind of a funny story, but in a nutshell, the whole time I noticed no matter how I paddled, my kayak wasn't moving straight and instead it was zig-zagging across the sea. Later on I decided to go for a swim while waiting for Juliana and Gabriel, so I jumped off my kayak. What I didn´t realize was that when I began to drift away from the kayak, I couldn´t swim back to it while wearing the lifejacket and hanging on to the paddle. The harder I tried to swim, the farther the current took me away from my kayak. So... I started boiar...

Once Juliana and Gabriel came to 'rescue me,' Gabriel noticed that my kayak was actually broken and filled with water. *Eer... kayaks aren't supposed to be filled with water?!* So we had to wave down a boat (socorro!) and the man in the boat took me and my crappy kayak ashore.

Re: Culture

Some of my observations about Brazilians:

1. If possible, try to avoid using English with Brazilians early in the mornings. Communication this way is not as effective when their brain hasn´t begun to function at 'full' ;)

2. Time... the Brazilians' concept of time usually means meeting an hour after the stated time.

3. The guys seem to enjoy putting up make-up and dressing like women--all for the sake of having fun. They are totally crazy! All of them!!

4. They certainly love music and dance here. Whenever there is music playing, someone is bound to be grooving and swaying to the rhythm of the music such as Pagode, Forró, Funk, MPB, Bossa Nova. Axé, etc. They also listen to a lot of American music and know how to sing every word in the songs.

5. Soccer. What can I say about soccer other than that it'll be totally crazy and wild when the World Cup begins!!

Re: Work

I´m starting to feel my motivation at work dwindling 'cuz I'm discovering that there aren't really specific job tasks which make me feel productive. The things I'm very happy to see are that some of the kids who were really shy to speak to me in English in the beginning are now speaking non-stop :) The kids are also teaching me how to dance Brazilian Funk, a type of music here in Brazil very different from the funk you think you may know. There are also choreographies to funk songs, and they're quite funny. The book is on the table! The table!

Here are some of the slangs and expressions I learned: (the spelling may be incorrect)

-boyando, castelando, viajando --> Nmm these 3 words, particularly boyando, from 'boiyar' meaning 'to float' describes how I´m like most of time. Boyando is used for someone who doesn´t understand anything. I.e. how I'm like when ppl spoke only in Portuguese!

-incalhardo/-a --> Someone who is very single!! This actually describes when a ship or whale gets stuck on the beach of an island in the middle of the ocean, and it is used for someone who´s single and is not likely to get a bf or gf.

-bicha --> Gay guy.

-burro (pronounced: boo hoo) --> Donkey; Used to describe somebody who does things without thinking or is an idiot.

-C.D.F. --> In English it's traslanted to Iron Ass. It's used for people who are very smart or very nerdy. They're called c.d.f. 'cuz since they study and sit all day, their bums must be made of ferro.

-faca (pronounced: fa ka) --> Knife; this is not a slang nor an expression. But it's funny to say yah?

Ahhh there are so many other things to update but unfortunately my internet at home totally sucks. I'm not even able to access blogger from the home computer. Right now I'm sitting in Rafael's dorm room in ITA to blog. Today a bunch of us went to the airport to pick-up the new trainee, Carlos from Columbia. I think later on today we'll have a churrasco and then a party in CTA for him.

Labels: Door #1: The Brazil Experience