Aló from Brasil!

Well! After much stress and frustration, I am finally in Brasil! It took three planes, lots of nonsleep, two and a half movies, much lugging around of baggage, little communication, and a little bit of freaking out, but I made it! I realized on the plane that the worst part about the trip is that, while I am looking forward to my trip, the scariest thing is that I dont even know what exactly it is Im looking forward to! Yeah, Im excited about learning portuguese, but what kind of embarassing and interesting experiences am I going to have? That is the intimidation factor in everything right now.

I arrived in Curitiba two hours late and sweating like made, but my host parents were waiting for me at the gate, and they were very happy that I had finally arrived. Nilva is a short and pretty woman of taste and class, and Hairton is a small man who looks a little like Sean Penn, and who never fails to give a word of advice or information. They seemed very excited that I knew a little bit of Portuguese "viaje longe", "sim", "é bom," and "obrigado" was about all I could get out on the car ride home, tho. 'Home' is a very modern, very nice house where I have my own room and the guest bathroom all to myself. Hairton and Nilva have 3 girls, two of whom are married and one other who is a architect and lives with them. She speaks some English, so that is a comfort, but this week she is in Fortaleza with friends so short and broken conversations with Hairton and Nilva define my home life. :o) They also have a dog, Boloro, who is small and very hairy and loves to play! everytime they try to chase him into the garage so that they can leave he takes off for a few more laps around the teeny front yard because he thinks they are playing with him. está loco! However, they are wonderful to live with, and have been very patient with me and my speaking. I get to meet the rest of the family this weekend when we go 'à praia! (beach)! Hairton and Nilva go on a walk through the neighnorhood every night, and it has been really nice to walk with them and try to talk while taking in the surroundings. It reminds me of my walks with my mom at home, and while I'm walking I like to think that this is home, too.

The other students are from OSU, Winston Salem State, UNC Charlotte, and then the two of us from USC. It is really nice to have english speakers around most of the day, since we go to language school from 830 to 1230 and then usually spend the afternoon together. It would definitely make it more difficult for me if they were not around, but I'm afraid that this means my frustration is only prolonged. However, by the time the semester starts I'm sure I'll be much more comfortable speaking Portuguese all the time. I have to force myself to think in Portuguese when I am with Hairton and Nilva, and sometimes in class as well. I get corrected all the time when I speak, but the Brasilians are very kind about it. The other students are really cool and I enjoy spending time with them. In all, there are 10 girls and 2 boys (guess the guys didn't get the memo about hot Brasilian chicks, huh?) and we have a good time together laughing about our pronounciation and experiences here.

Some things I have noticed that are different here: On the taps instead of 'H' and 'C', they have 'Q' and 'F'. Not something that you would think to look for, but it makes a difference. They don't have huge trash cans, just small cans - how's that for a non consumerist society? This keyboard is even different so it can account for the accents and different letters like this one: ç Also, there seems to be no social standard for PDA, because you regularly see couples kissing seriously on the street and in the mall. Not just pecks, but "I-love-having-your-tongue-in-my-mouth" kind of kisses. We went to a concert of Brasilian folk music, which was nothing less than awesome!

Tudo bom aqui! Tchau!