Well its March in Curitiba an autumn has commenced. It's a little weird to say that, since obviously I'm used to saying that spring is in the air during March, but I swear the weather is just the same as it is in South Carolina-lots of rain and it can get cold overnight, then after a few days of sweatshirts it's back to the t-shirt and sunglasses, and maybe a light jacket for the evening. Just as unpredictable, so I guess I should be used to it! I have to admit I didn't quite believe those who told me that Curitiba gets cold, but I have been converted! I am not looking forward to the winter here, but I guess I'll deal.

If living in a different county is cultural experience and going to plays and art shows and concerts and the like is also a "cultural experience", then I have been getting a cultural cultural experience. :o) This past week Curitiba hosted the largest Theater Festival in South America and I went to see my share of the "spectaculos". I began with a comedy about two boys who have to expand on a lie in order to stay out of trouble, but which then causes everyone in the play minus one of the boys to be killed and sent to be judged in front of Jesus, who has an afro, and the devil, who has horns. It was amusing, but not one of the best stage productions I have seen. It was also a little hard to understand. Why is it that people think that in order to be funny they have to speak about 200 words per minute? But the next play was quite good- a musical based on Shakespear's Othello, but based in a Samba School in Rio de Janeiro in the 20's. I enjoyed that one, and the music was really nice. The next day I decided to do a double-featurea and saw the matinee production of "Oscar Wilde me Disse" and the midnight showing of "Jack Estripador." The first one was a romantic drama about two actors and during a rehearsal of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," they use Wilde's words to talk about their own relationship. I was blown away by the play and the emotion of the actors- definitely my favorite play of the entire week. I managed to take the poster of the play with me, and even talk a little bit to the director, so it was a full afternoon. My host sister and her boyfriend and I went to the midnight play that night and I really enjoyed it. It was a musical about Jack the Ripper, and quite enjoyable. My two companions either did not find it interesting or were very tired, because Ricardo was out 10 mins into the action, and Samara kept nodding off towards the end of it. I think that was just about as funny as the script, personally. Especially since before the play Ricardo was trying to convince Samara that we should all go to a bar afterwards and dance. Oh irony. :o)

Life is setteling down into that "semester groove" as I like to call it, and I only have 3 classes to take here, so that leaves me plenty of time to read my homework. Believe me, I need all the time I can get for it, too! But I did have a nice time standing in the rain at the busstop in my completely soaked pants waiting for my bus, and then getting on the right bus going the wrong direction and having to wait again about 20 mins (its later now, so colder) was quite a hoot for me.

I will say one thing, the people who have opened up to me have been more than a Godsend- in Curitiba people are more "fechado" (closed) and don't really like to talk to new faces, and that been a little bit of a challenge for me. But the people in the Yoga studio and some of the students in my classes and especially my host family have been so welcoming. It really makes being in another country a little easier. I know being from the South I have a good idea of Southern Hospitality, but I really have been inspired to be super super nice to people in a new place because its just such a nice feeling to have people that really want to let you into their lives as well as their city.

Oh, and one last thing- Grits has gone global!! I'm serious! Today for lunch I ate a mush made from corn (thats nothing other than grits) topped with ground beef in sauce. May not be exactly what I'm used to eating, but it was so close that I got really excited! And I really liked it. I beleive here that particuar dish is called ..ummmm... something that begins with a P. hehe. Oh, and I was feeling the lack of peanut butter in my life so my wonderful parents sent me a jar and I promptly sat down to eat an apple and peanut butter- possibly one of the most heavenly snacks ever. So I now have peanut butter, and a form of grits in my geladeira, so I couldn't be more happy, now, could I?

The Beach Boys go Brasilian

"Catch a wave and you're sitting on the top of the world......" So sings the beach boys and so I was on the verge of discovering........ until I lost my balance again and toppled back into the water. Yes, I attempted to surf this weekend. Some American friends and I met up with some girls we had met in our hostel in Salvador at the beach in Florianopolis to catch some sun and some waves, apparetnly. We stayed in a great condo- kitched included, which means we made scrambled eggs for breakfast, spaghetti for lunch, and pinapple upside-down cake for dessert- about a 15 min walk from a huge surfer beach. There was a surf school right on the corner of our street, so on Sunday the girls decided to see if we had what it takes to be sufer-girl "stading by the ocean's roar" worthy of Brian Wlison's desires. Fortunately, all of us showed promise, althou only two or three were able to really get the hang of it, myself not included. :o) I had my share of wipe-outs, but the few times that I was actually able to ride the wave into the beach was absolutely awesome!! I didn't quite get the adrenaline rush that I've heard comes with catching the perfect wave because I was concentrating entirely too hard on being able to stand up on my board, but I at least tasted a little bit of the excitement. Perhaps next time will be easier. (oh yes, there will be a next time.) "If we're not back by september, tell the teacher we're surfin', surfin' Santa Cantarina" ;o)

During our stay in Florianopolis we also went for a hike on some rocks by the beach and sat for quite a while just listening to the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks and contemplating the extreme coolness of creation and how small humans feel against such power. It was very nice.

But back to my normal life in Curitiba, I was invited to a graduation dinner for my Brasilian cousin, and it was a very nice dinner although in keeping with the Latin American tradition, very late- 10pm! The father of the recent gradute came to the table and talked to my family and I for a little while, and we began talking about the United States, because his son is in Nevada right now working. Apparently not having arroz e fejão (beans and rice) in Nevada is the equivalent to not having any food! It was a great conversation until he began to cry, saying that his son should be here now sharing this moment with the family. I felt a little guilty, just because it seemed my prescense was a constant reminder of the absence of his son, but we all tried to console him, saying it was an opportunity of a lifetime, etc. I think the whiskey helped to pull him together as much as it did create the breakdown, but he was fine after a few minutes. The most interesting this that happend was after the dinner, however, when the DJ turned on the disco lights and the smoke machine and the entire crowd began dancing! Young people, recent graduates, and proud parents and aunts and uncles included! It was quite fun.

Classes have started at the Universtiy, and I once again felt like the lost freshman, especially today when I couldn't find the classroom and when I thought I had was even more perplexed that it was absolutely vacant! Fortunately, I encountered three other people procurando for the same class, and we finally figured out that there was no class this week, so I got uo at 5:45 to catch the bus and get to the school for a 7:30 am in class for absolutely no reason at all. However, I at least got to meet some of my classmates, so maybe it wasn't a complete loss. I'm getting used to the question "Você está de onde?" (Take a guess: where are you from?) and the inquisitive look with the statement "Você não é brasileira." (You are not brasilian.) I guess it must be prety obvious! But oh well, I can get over it. Plus its a great conversation starter!

So this Brasilian-poser is off to discover more new things- this weekend commences the Drama Festival in Curitiba, and I'm looking forward to some interesting plays.

Hang loose!

Pula! Pula!!

If there were any way for me to recount the happenings of this past week in one email,believe me, I would find that way. And you all know that I would. However, since that is right about up there with the cow jumping over the moon and the dish running away with the spoon, we shall make a feeble attempt.

First of all, just a little history lesson about Carnaval: it is the festival right before Lent- the season of penance that prepares beleivers for Easter. It also coincides with Spring Festivals of fertility and birth in other religions. Traditionally, the idea is to get all your partying out in the week before Lent, and then spend 40 days cleansing yourself for Easter. Just like Mardi Gras, only for about 5 days instead of 1. In Bahia the festivities consist of parades of bands on top of huge trucks basically made out of speakers, which travel down the street slowly enough so that everyone can dance along beside it. These trucks of music are called trio electricos. One can pay to view the parade from constructed balconeys called Camarotes, or one can pay to dance in a corded off area right around the trio electrico, or one can not pay and dance around in the street wherever one wishes. A gente decided to go the no-money rout, albeit the more dangerous one, and dance to whatever trio we happened to be around at the time.

When we arrived the entire city was preparing for the Carnaval, and the scale of it impressed and excited me. I really had no concept of what it would be like there, but watching the trios line up and the Camarotes being constructed sent electirical chills through me. On the first night of Carnaval, we sat on the fence lining the beach and watched the beginning of the parade, thinking that it would be fine to just stay there, hop around a bit in our spot, and enjoy all the bands going by. We soon found that that would be impossible. First of all because it was so crowded, especially when an especially popular trio went by and everyone with it squished us all up against the railings and made it impossible to dance, and second of all because- well because it was impossible to dance, really! I don't remember how we started, but soon we were dancing in the street in between trios and it was infinitely better! We had a little more room to dance, we could dance with anyone we chose, and before I realized it we were an hour down the street from our hostel and it was 3 am! This we repeated for 4 nights in a row- wake up late, relax and store up energy for the night, have a bit do eat and perhaps go to the beach, and then when it got dark we would drink a caipirinha to give us a little kick and dance until sunrise!

It all blurs together into one huge dance-fest, but here are a few points I remember well:

-there was a table across the street from the pousada that was making caipirinhas out of every imaginable fruit and I loved them. I think my favorite was maracujá and mango mix.

-On the first night I was stopped by a Bahian woman who apparently thought I was dancing way to much like an American and who gave me a short course in how to dance Brasilian. I learned my lesson well, I think, because later I was told that I danced like a 'Bahiana', and I think that is a compliment I will carry with me for the rest of my life!

-I fell in love with a young Brasilian with whom I danced for the whole night, but- what tragedy!- I lost him in the crowds that night and saw only a glimpse of him two days later but he faded again into the crowd. (So here's your lesson, ladies: when you find a boy that can dance, don't let go of him!!) (And ok, so maybe I didn't fall in love, but he was very sweet and I really enjoyed having a dance partner that knew how to dance!)

-On the 3rd night we decided to go to the historic part of the city and experience a little of the Carnaval there. It was a little more authentic- not so much pop music and a huge party but a huge get-together of people with african music and old ladies and young children dancing in the street. Some friends of ours started doing a hip hop dance they had learned in a class, and soon not only were we all attempting to follow, but so were about 15 Bahian kids who thought we were the funniest thing they'd ever seen. However, they copied every move us white folks did, and they loved it. I loved it too. I love that music and movement creates a kind of communication that transcends languages, as well as laughter. One little girl just died laughing every time I tried to dance with her, and a little boy wanted a kiss from me before I left. That was definitely the highlight of my week. :o)

The energy of the people and the willingness to move freely to all kinds of music was liberating, and having to share a room with 13 other people in the heat of Bahia was definitely a learning experience as well.

*in a deep announcers voice:*
"We'll be back next time with more about the life of an American in Brasil. What do they really study in schools?"