Speaking backwards with the ocean

The sea is incredibly beckoning
High tide, and its trying to take me away to share with me its secrets
Whispering, and it sounds like its roaring
The setting sun on my back and I'm burning
"Come here, we'll save you" the other world is whispering,
"Come with us and learn to run in the waves and swim in the air
Drink the wind and breathe our salty juices
Come and dance with the sharks"


Hey, blog followers..I'd love it if you'd check out my poetry blog at www.pistachiopoetry.blogspot.com

Or you can just click on the link on my profile.

Thanks ;D

Grab a Guarda Chuva!

It has been down-pouring these past few days in brief spurts, and I love it! With the white school uniform, though, its a bit inconvenient. It was so cool to see the streets of Recife flooded and cars swimming through the river...

I don't have much time, but I thought I'd talk about it briefly.

Tomorrow is the big party, Saturday (at 8 am !! :/ bleh)is Joao Pessoa with Rotary and other exchange students, and Sunday is sleep, the beach, maybe a movie and family hours. Hope all is well with everybody!!!!

Needless to say, I'm super stoked about this upcoming weekend.

All my love,

Maddie

The past week or so..

I.have no idea where to begin, so I'll just start by copying and pasting different segments of what I've sent people recently in emails. After that, I'll elaborate :D I really haven't had much time to be on the computer, so if you've emailed and it's taken me awhile to respond, my apologies!!

I was on the beach today, and while I haven't yet seen a butterfly, there are these colorful birds that manage to flutter with such delicacy, as if the air does not exist and they are merely dancing with their wings, that I think of them more as precise creatures of myth than as what I had perceived as birds. Brazil is absolutely breathtaking. Every instant is an adventure, something new and..well..its difficult to find anything to be melancholic about in this beautiful city. My window faces the beach, and three others face the night lights of the city, and the skyline, and everything is so incredibly beckoning that I don't hardly know what to do with myself, so I do it all.

Honestly, there is absolutely nothing here that encourages unhappiness. Brazil is brimming over with life, and culture, and every weekend everybody goes out until 4 or 5 am. My skin, at the moment, is white and red. Hopefully it will turn to some strange, foreign shade of bronze, but chances are I'll just be pale again. Its nice to look different here, because while walking in the market in the center of the city, or anywhere, really, people will just come up to you and say "you're beautiful, you're very very beautiful". Except its in Portuguese, so its "Voce e muito bonito..muito, muito lindo" I'll miss that when I come back home :D

All my love to Wisconsin, and EAHS, and classes in English and people understanding most of what I'm trying to say. Last night, I saw this PHENOMENAL modern ballet, and absolutely fell in love with dance. I want to learn samba, and frevo, and everything else here! There was this part in the ballet, where everybody was dancing around a grid of glass vases, and it struck me as this humongous metaphor for life. To me, life is full of glass vases, and you can either tip toe around them, afraid you might slip and break a few, or dance throughout them and trust that you won't knock one over.

I love my host family so much, and I love the driver, and the maids, but I much don't like having people do things for me. Therefore, I don't think I've ever kept my room so clean in my life, and done so many dishes secretly, and, well...its strange. I'm excited to return to the States and be able to throw my clothes all over the place and actually keep them there. I'm so entirely grateful to be alive. I love that feeling.

Ah! A little side note about professors in Brazil that people might find interesting: They are SOOOO much more physical than in the US. I mean, if a teacher touches a student in the States, it is way uncommon and there generally has to be an immense level of trust. Here, its common and a part of teaching. Students walk into the classroom and hug the teachers, and I've been kissed I don't know how many times by most of my teachers. It's considered much less inappropriate here. My first day here, my teachers kissed me on the cheeks, the forehead, and even one on the neck, and it isn't stepping over any boundaries. Because it's so culturally acceptable, I don't feel awkward or uncomfortable or anything! Nobody does :) A kiss on the neck here is like a handshake in Elkhorn..not perceived as inappropriate in the least. I've absolutely fallen in love with this country, and this city, and the language and everything.

While the students are a little less mature than students in Elkhorn (I know, I hadn't fathomed it possible) they are much..for lack of better term, light. Looking back on my life in Wisconsin, it seems so heavy! Everything was dramatic, deep, dark, and everything was like a thick fog weighing down on you. There is no angst in Brazil. Anger is upfront and rare, but very bold and I don't know if Brazilians know how to seethe or brew over something that happened years past. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay...elaboration: I'm sitting in my room listening to American music right now, but I've been exposed to some Brazilian music and can't wait to hear more! Many people down here listen to American rap (Ameh-dee-kahn-ah hap) and I've encountered so many students obsessed with Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Ke$ha, its almost disgusting haha. The funny thing about when people sing American, or English, music here is that they get the first two or three words, and after that its just "llaaa laa naa naaa laaaa!". I laugh SOOOO hard, every time, and I've written out lyrics for Tik Tok, by Ke$ha, multiple times. Speaking of laughing so hard, I was in school the other day (which I'll talk more about in a minute) and my fried, Talita, got angry at some boy in the class and yelled "mennninnooo!" aah I wish typing it could do it justice. My mother would understand :D

I miss everybody a lot, which is part of why I haven't been on much. Every time I see an email, or a message, or a blog comment, or really anything from anyone that doesn't live in Brazil it feels like mustard gas and a kick in the stomach. Easter will be wonderful here, but a bit difficult because nothing beats dinner at Fields in the Wilderness with the Brancel family :)

My mom, dad, Ingrid, Todd and Hans are the people I miss most. And Sophie and Jess, too. And my Grandparents. And my cousins, and aunts and uncles and of course my friends. Friends of the family. SNOW. aaahhh cold weather. Having to try really hard to sweat.

My family here is wonderful, though, and I couldn't have asked for a better placement. My host mom and I get along really well, and I absolutely adore the dad, so we all talk every day and that's always nice. The host brother is nice, too, but I don't talk to him or see him much. I think my family is much more protective over me than those of the other exchange students, but I'm sure they'll loosen up with time and I trust them because they live here and..for lack of better term..they know what's up. It could be because they aren't used to a less wealthy way of life..for example, I don't much enjoy shopping for clothing with my host mom because I absolutely can not afford it lol. Everything in the Shopping here is CRAZY expensive, but when you go to the center of the city its much more affordable. AH! I went last Friday and bought a dress for this coming Friday, because there is a 15th birthday party for a girl I know..which is like a sweet 16 in the states, but way more extravagant. Anyway, my family doesn't really take buses or anything, so they're a little nervous about me using those, even though the other exchange students have parents who are okay with it. I don't argue though, and COMPLETELY understand, especially because I haven't been here for very long. <<--- I was reluctant to write about it, because I know a bunch of the comments are going to be "listen to your host parents, Maddie, they know what's best" and I AM and I APPRECIATE ALL THEY ARE DOING FOR ME SO MUCH ITS CRAZY!!! I WON'T GO AGAINST THEM! Last Saturday, there was a lunch and I met all the extended family, who I absolutely love. They are just like the Mossmans and the Brancels, but about one notch louder. I feel so at home with them :D Every night, they ask me about my day and talk about theirs, and we exchange different cultural appreciation things all the time, and..well...its just great.

School is going well and I have many close friends, and one in particular who I talk to all the time. I'm also really close with 4 or so other exchange students, and its nice to hang out with them because they're really fun and they speak English. Friday I was at a festa (party) with them, and we ended up swimming and stuff. Sunday, we all cooked this big extravagant Mexican dinner with the Mexican girl, Andrea, and it was the most delicious thing ever. Better than the Mexican store in town. There was a brief crisis period where we were without avocados, but we found some and all was well. BEST. GUACAMOLE. EVER.

I would talk more about school, but I should sleep because I was late today for the first time. So unlike me, right? In my defense, the traffic was even more terrible than usual. Oh! I should talk about that. The traffic is..well..omg. Its a one way street and it literally looks like a huge, moving traffic accident. Cars are hardly moving, they're similar to slugs and snails, and they are incredibly rude. That's another thing! Traffic rules DO NOT APPLY here EVER. Every time I step out into the road I fear a little for my life. I love the adrenaline rush, though. Pretty soon I'll be crossing streets for fun.

Ah, I'll forgo the sleep and talk about school. My first week (and a few days) have been great. I talk to the other American (she's from Florida and another redhead) and to other students, but in mostly Portuguese. After school on certain days at like 1:00 there are extra classes, and its basically like a study group with the professor. I go to those, because its an excuse to see my friends more. There are 3 classes in the morning, a brief break where the entire school is off (little kids and all) and everybody buys a lunch type thing. In Brazil, before you buy something you have to tell a different person, and they give you a ticket with the amount of money or item on it. Then you give that to a different person and get what you want. It is incredibly inefficient, or I think so, but maybe there is some hidden purpose that I'm missing :p Its chaotic, though, and you have to shout at the people behind the counter to be noticed and pretty much stick your hand in their face! After lunch (its more like snack time) there are three more classes, and then the day is done. Every day everybody has different classes. I like the variety.

I found my candy today and my charcoal. I literally started dancing around my room. Ah, the wonders of comfort food.

About food..Brazilians eat desert after EVERYTHING (be it a fruit, or a cake, or something) and there are these little cups of coffee after every meal. Its like espresso, but better and with milk and..mmmm...eu gosta! Usually, when you learn a language, you learn opposites. For example: love/hate, good/bad, etc.. I only know most of the positive words. I think that makes a pretty good statement about my time here so far. I asked Edilene the other day to teach me how to cook when I know more Portuguese. I told her that her cooking was so delicious, I keep eating and eating and eating and pretty soon I won't need the belt I just bought.

Oh! Another thing! At Rotary the other day, I had to speak to an entire room of important rich men (and one woman) about me, my rotary club, my town, and my exchange. IN PORTUGUESE. THROUGH A MICROPHONE. There were probably 75 people there and I had been in Recife for a week. It wasn't intimidating until about halfway through when I realized that these were people on whom it was necessary to make a good impression. Then I stuttered a little, but it was alright :D I ended with a cheesy "Thank you, Rotary" and they applauded me. I felt special. And probably turned a little red.

Sunday, after the party with my parents friends (we ended up getting home at like 4 30) Jorge, Henrique, Lena and I went to Olinda and drove around the old part of the city. It was SOOOO beautiful - I'll post pictures soon. I can't wait to walk around the city and see more! We ate at this French restaurant and it was absolutely delicious. In the northeast, there is tons of steak, fish, rice, beans and fruit. Usually there's a salad, too, which I try to load up on. WEIRDEST DESERT EVER. I ate this dish with banana, cinnamon, cheese and sugar. Yeah. It was like a churro but way more delicious. It sounds terrible, I know. Oh! Tapioca is sooo good with coconut and cheese. I adore it. Downtown, when I was walking around with Lauren (from Florida) we bought it for 50 centavos. The most impressive buy of my life. She's been here for 7 months, so she knows her way around and its safe to go places with her. I LOVED the centro do cidade, porque

aaaahhh i've been doing that a lot but I'm not going to erase it this time. Just so everybody can have evidence of this parade of English-Portuguese translations constantly blaring through my brain.

It is SO incredibly colorful, and full of life and music and singing, from everybody, and it was the most beautiful place EVER! People seem to know I am American before I even say anything, though, because they'll just come up to me and start speaking English. Its cute but irritating. I saw an old church and absolutely fell in love with it, because the interior and exterior are so incredibly detailed and beautiful and aaaaaaaahhhhhhh i might never come home.

I rode a public bus and it felt like I was on a roller coaster. I loved it :D

I should really sleep, but I don't want to because there is so much to talk about. Lena just came in and said goodnight.. I have tons of pictures, my going away poster, a few drawings and my "welcome, Maddie!" poster on my bulletin board (its actually magnetic) and I stare at it all the time. What a great reminder of people in the States who were kind enough to wish me a good journey!!

<3 Beijos, Tchau!!!

-Madeline (Mah-jee-leen-ay)

P.S. The French girl, Julie, has a HUGE library in her room here so I borrowed The Great Gatsby and the complete works of T.S. Elliot. I've discovered that I like him very much. One of his poems scared the crap out of me, though, and I am afraid to reread it.

Ah, I have a plate to send back home. Its a souvenir plate with the name of a restaurant and a picture on it. I got it for free because a man whom we ate with didn't like it (when you order a certain expensive dish at some restaurants they give you a plate). That night, we ate dinner with 12 or so different people at midnight. This is why I love this country. I will either give that plate to my Mom or Dad..someone call dibs so I don't have to choose. I'll find something else for the other parent lol :) But you never know which you'll like more!!!! Mwahaha.

I went for a run last night, but I can do considerably less here than when its 40 degrees or so in Wisconsin :D I miss the cold weather, but its so wonderful to be warm. I can't think of anything to complain about, because I LOVE everything.

Hope all is well - leave comments and tell me more about life in Wisconsin (my parents have been doing a good job of that)

Dad - I saw a man fishing, thigh deep in the ocean today and thought of you. <3 Bring your pole when you come..but I don't know what they're catching or how big it is. Miss you.

Ingrid - Whenever I'm hot and sweaty I think about how much you would like it here haha. Really though, I can't wait to show you around. I miss your analysis and thought. I'm sure its here but I can't speak well enough to find it :D

Mom - Nobody here has as many freckles as you, or hugs with such warmth :) Thanks for the frequent emails and such. Life sounds great and I miss you. Best Friend.

Todd - You're going to look super freakin tall when I get back D: I haven't seen a lot of long and lean people here, but I'm sure they exist. And I haven't done my dance every day, like you recommended (okay, only a few times..but with the blinds closed and right when I wake up in the morning to give me a little kick to get going).

Hans - Whenever I see a girl my age with a younger brother I have to look away. If you're taller than me when I get back I'll scalp you.

A praia e o oceano, uma supermercado, bonito laranja, e minha familia fala portugues!!!

Oi, meus amigos e minha familia!

I am home alone tonight, as Henrique is with his girlfriend and Lena and Jorge have just left for the birthday party of a friend. It feels strange to be typing in English, because I have been speaking Portuguese all night J I am learning quickly, though, and future/past tense is not as difficult as I once assumed it to be. Jorge, my host father, returned home tonight from Rio de Janeiro and he is as friendly as the rest of the family. We all had a wonderful discussion over dinner, and afterwards we all sat on the couch and talked about music, the United States, politics and Portuguese/English. I speak Portuguese to Jorge, and he speaks English to me. That way we can both practice a new language. It is the same with Lena; we speak the other’s first language.

Today, Lena and I went to the Supermercado, and it was strikingly similar to Sam’s club. Everything was in bulk, and relatively cheap. Lena goes shopping once a month so we had more than one shopping cart filled completely to the top, which was quite the sight. People in Brazil are very friendly, and it is common to have a conversation with a person you do not know J I love that about Brazil. If you sit down next to another individual, a conversation will arise and it is generally a very good one and not awkward in the least.

Before the Supermercado, Lena took me to the beach and it was absolutely breathtaking. I took incredible amounts of pictures today, so I’ll post those soon. Its only that they take FOREVER to load, which is never fun to wait for, ha. At the beach, there are vendors who walk around with boards and food on a big stick, selling their products. I wanted to buy a pair of earrings that were 3 Real, but I only had a 5 and the vendor did not have change. It was probably for the better, because I didn’t like them that much anyway. The ocean was at high tide today, when we were out, and it brought in a lot of seaweed. It felt funny and was sort of cool, but mostly gross, ha. After swimming and sunbathing (which was done with generous amounts of sunscreen, a hat, and sunglasses) we came back to the apartment and washed off the sand in the shower at the bottom of the building, outside. Its public, and obviously we wore bathing suits. It is sort of a public bath so people don’t track sand into the building. Oh! Another thing! Brazilian bikinis leave little to the imagination, especially the bikinis for men....so...yeah. Generally, the biggest men are in the smallest bikinis. I’m talking 250 lbs squeezed into hot pink size extra small. There were a few hotties in skimpy clothing, but the whole male bikini concept isn’t attractive for me so their attire (or lack thereof) sort of ruined it for me. Lol. We also went to a hut looking place, just off the beach, and drank coconut juice straight from the coconut. It. Was. Delicious.

After the Supermercado, we went to pick up Azis (their Schnauzer..so cute) from the vet where he had been washed, and then went to the salon. In Brazil, everybody has a manicure and if you don’t its considered a statement of class, or something like that. It is what I’ve gathered on the concept, anyway. I got neon orange, because apparently all the girls my age get obnoxious bright colours, ha, and I want to fit in when I go to school on Monday. I was sitting, patiently waiting for Lena, when a woman came up to me and started speaking in Portuguese, which to me, sounded like she was speaking in tongues. I explained that my Portuguese was not yet good, and that I was learning, but could she please speak more slowly? She laughed and repeated herself, except I’m pretty sure she said it even faster. Lol I was convinced that if she were speaking in English it would still be too fast for me to understand. Pretty soon 5 or 6 women who worked at the salon were simultaneously shooting questions at me, and I just thought, where the heck is Lena when I need her, ha. One of them must have spoken broken English, because she kept asking me “Cough? Cough? Cough? Voce quer cough?” I’m sitting there thinking, I want cough? I want cough? Nao, porque eu querinda cough? Finally, she said “Black cough?” And the light bulb lit in my head enough for me to say “sim, sim! Obrigada!”. She meant “Coffee”, or “cafe”, if she had just said it in Portuguese :D Coffee is a cultural thing in Brazil. There are miniature cups of it EVERYWHERE, usually with warm milk and sugar. This was black coffee, though, and it was delicious. I’ll be addicted when I come back.

While my encounters at the salon may not be evidence of improving Portuguese, I promise it is getting MUCH better! I had two hours worth of conversation in Portuguese tonight with Lena and Jorge, and while some of it was about Portuguese, much of it wasn’t and Jorge estimated my fluency arrival at 3 weeks. THREE WEEKS!!! MUITO BOM!! He said that because I have been here two days, and I already know everything that I do, he thinks I will be able to understand and speak everything by mid April :D THAT IS FREAKING AWESOME! I HOPE HE IS RIGHT! School should help a lot, too. Speaking of, we went to the school today, which is nice and open, and big, called Collegio do Boa Viagem. I picked up my uniform, which is a white polo shirt with a logo on it and some funky designs on the shoulders. I will post pictures of that, too. Monday is my first day of school and I am so excited!!! I just want to meet people my age so I will have something to do on nights like these. I hope people will show me around and take me cool places. Jorge said that we will probably go to Olinda on Sunday, which would be FANTASTIC!!! It is known for its artists and painters, so he decided this after he learned about my interest in art.

I have to apply for a temporary stay licence, or something like that, but I don’t know the details yet because I don’t have the paperwork with me. I emailed rotary about it, though, and they should be getting back to me soon. God, the ocean is so beautiful. I tasted it today.

OOOOOHHHHH MMMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYY GGGGGGOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDD THE TOILET WATER SPINS IN THE OPPOSTIE DIRECTION!!!

“Love in the Time of Cholera” is on the TV in English, so I am watching it with Portuguese subtitles and it is a nice break from the translations. The left hemisphere of my brain hurts. I need some creativity!!!

Tomorrow we are all going out for Lena’s brother’s birthday. I am super excited because it is at a restaurant with a DJ, and dancing, and well, we’ll see what it is like. I hope her family likes me :D

I suppose that is it for now. I listened to jazz today and told Jorge and Lena about Grandpa Bill and his jazz collection. Jorge said he liked New York because of the music, and the jazz, so that’s how that discussion started. I experienced saudade (a Portuguese word for an intense longing, or missing) for jazz, and jazz band, and my friends and my family today. If I stay busy enough, though, that goes away. Henrique is home now, and I guess he was out for dinner with Deborah (his girlfriend).

Eu tea mo, Brasil! Voce e muito bonito!

Suas,

Madeline

Observations of the first few days :)

I am sitting in my room typing this, and the maids are talking in the other room, laughing and singing. That is one big difference in Brazil than in America. People are always singing, and it seems they have no idea whether they are in tune with themselves or not. Somehow, through all the imperfect pitches, it still sounds beautiful. I think of it as a statement to their culture...they aren’t as strict as Americans. Brazilians are so full of life that they allow many things culturally. Above all, they allow love.
Upon meeting any individual, it is customary to kiss both cheeks. Immediately it makes you feel welcome to their country and, if applicable, their home. Yesterday Lena, Henrique and I went to the “Shopping” (a mall) and I was introduced to their old friends, one of which had a daughter who had gone on an exchange to Germany for a year. Her English was excellent, so naturally we hit it off and talked about Rotary and such. I also met Henrique’s girlfriend. She was nice, but we didn’t say much to one another. They took off, arm in arm, and Lena and I went to the food court for dinner.
I found a hair in my salad and was a little disgusted, but didn’t say anything. It isn’t like anything could have been done about it, anyway. Lena went to go get a sandwich and returned with her parents. Her mother was in a wheelchair, and was being pushed around by a maid of sorts. Her parents were incredibly kind and welcoming, and I got the impression that they were looking forward to meeting me. We spoke a little in Portuguese, and some in English. Upon parting, we all kissed cheeks and Lena and I drove back home (after getting ice cream at McDonalds). That’s another thing. There is freaking McDonalds here. I don’t know exactly how I feel about that.
Well Lena is back from the Gym, and she is going to shower before we go to the beach. Oh! Another random fact: Brazilians shower multiple times every day, but their showers are not very long (seven or eight minutes at most). This will be my first time going to the beach, so I am very excited :D I’ve only been staring at it this entire time out my window! Through three of my windows, there is the city and I can see skyscrapers and high rises. Through one, I can see the beach and the road. If you look at the picture of the beach on my first blog post, the building I live in is the tallest one. I am on the twelfth floor on the...northwest side, I think? My bedroom is on the northwest side, anyway.
When we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, I feel like I am at a restaurant. The cook comes and serves us, and we take whatever food we want from what was cooked. So far I have tried 3 or 4 new fruits that I had never even heard of. Papaya was today, which was delicious. You scoop out the seeds and put granola in their place, at least for breakfast. Desert is common. It is usually a fruit, a cake, coffee with warm milk and sugar, ice cream or some other treat. I’m slowly watching my entire body puff up a little :p Rotary warned me about that, but I think I’ll be running a lot once I get settled in. I prefer running at night when I am not beneath the scorching sun, but Lena told me it was not safe so I won’t do that. She said morning was better. I guess I’ll be getting up very early from now on! I think running along the beach will be great.
The trees here are very different, and they are beautiful. Also, the buildings are all very colourful, especially downtown. There are all these little shops on the side of the street, and while I’ve only driven past them, I can see that they don’t have a door or even a front wall at all. It seems that they are literally open all day long, and at night they pull out these gates and suddenly the town, I imagine, looks a little like a prison.
There is music that is strictly from Recife, and it is like a reggae/ska mixture. I love it, personally, but I’ve heard it’s not popular among the other states. Brazil also has its own country music..which I think a lot of people don’t like. I’m not a huge fan, but its tolerable. It is more like rock than country in the United States, but in Brazil they listen to American rock and don’t make any of their own. Henrique, for example, is a Metallica fanatic. Metallica, in my opinion, is another band that is tolerable and sometimes good to listen to, but definitely not what I prefer, ha.
Lena just came in and sprayed me with sunscreen (she’s so motherly) so I think it is time to go. Tchau, meu amigos! Meu Portugues e muito bom, mas um poco quebrada.
Beijos,
Maddie

Sao Paulo Airport

I’m sitting in the airport in Sao Paulo, and I’ve decided that I love Brazil already. Flying in was spectacular – I met a group of Mormon missionaries and hung out with them until I had to check my baggage for my connecting flight to Recife. This huge group of them, probably about 15 or so, are spending up to 4 weeks here for training and then are headed to a bunch of different areas in Brazil, just to spread the word. They were the nicest people..named “Sister ___” and, well, I forgot what the guys were called..but they were incredibly friendly and social. They told me that at age 19, its relatively customary for anyone in the Mormon church to go on a 2 year mission. A TWO FREAKING YEAR MISSION. How cool is that?? Apparently, they just send in their applications and they could be sent anywhere around the entire world. They were all dressed in complete suits. It looked uncomfortable to sleep in. We talked most when we were waiting in this line for foreigners to have two measly pieces of paper checked, with information that could just be taken off our other documents. This line, which couldn’t be described as anything but impressive (if put Great America to shame), was enormous and took a good hour. I have a feeling I’ll see more of them in the upcoming year.

Speaking of enormous, Sao Paulo is the most massive city I have ever seen in my entire life. Flying in, there were skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. Seriously, mile after mile of humongous buildings, some of them in the middle of suburbs, just placed there. They look so spontaneous. Every single house looks alike (at least from the top – they have red roofs and are all similar sizes), but on occasion there is a bright green house with architecture that’s a little different. The city is HUGE. I have never seen something so entirely massive in my whole life. Its incomprehensible unless you’ve seen it. I wish I would have taken a picture...but I’m sure I can find one online.

I think I have a greater appreciation of flying right now, because of my age and the rush of independence it pushes through me. Last night, as I was flying over Costa Rica and the Caribbean Sea, I looked out my window and it was the most phenomenal sight. I was one of probably 4 people up on the entire plane (it was like 3 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep...probably for the better, because I wasn’t rudely awakened by the excessive turbulence 30 minutes later) and the sky looked like some magical place I’d never seen before. Usually, when you view the night sky, there is all this cloud cover, or at least a little, and whether you realize it or not, there is limited star viewing. Well, surprisingly enough, you don’t have this problem when you are flying above the clouds. I could see every single freckle of the night sky and it was breathtaking. In the morning, there was this fiery red sunset (not on my side, but I could still see a little) and it was if we were flying over Antarctica with fluffy ice caps of sorts, glowing in the golden rays of the sun.

So, Portuguese. I’m doing better than I thought I would. Granted, the only experience I’ve had is in Airports. This was in English, but in Atlanta I figured out how to get from terminal A to terminal E, when I was originally going to T (for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Atlanta airport, this meant I now had to hike across the entire fracking thing, instead of just making a trek next door). I asked a flight attendant for help, but she didn’t say much. She sort of just grunted in my general direction, and when I asked if she thought I would make it, she was like “Girl, iuno, why you sittin here talkin to me when you could be runnin”. So I said thanks and walked away in the direction she had grunted.

On the escalator, I asked a random woman if she knew where the train was that I had to catch, and it turned out she had to go to E as well, so we went together. She was visiting her daughter in Buenos Aires. Her daughter had done an exchange to Spain in college, and then ended up in South America climbing a mountain and got married to another mountaineer.

I found my gate, and went to get a water bottle. The Indian lady behind the counter looked at my Rotary blazer and asked me if it was my birthday. I didn’t really know what to say, except to try to explain. She didn’t understand me much anyway, but at least she got that I was going on a foreign exchange and it wasn’t my birthday. I think she was still confused as to why I was wearing an oversized blue jacket with tacky pins all over it, but whatever :p

So, skipping ahead, I got to the Sao Paulo airport, and went to check my baggage again, and of course, was having a little trouble. My baggage is huge and I wasn’t smart or efficient enough to get a cart. Thankfully, this incredibly kind Italian took my carry on (he was trust worthy and I was right there, Dad. Just so you know) and put it on his cart. We struggled through communication for awhile, and after I went and got a cart of my own, we got to actually talking and learned a little bit about one another. He is from Italy (I had no idea) and works with agriculture and oil of some sort. I told him that my dad does something like that, but with gas and stuff. He sells things...that’s where there was a similarity. But he goes all over the place – throughout North, Central and South America and Europe. He speaks Italian, decent Spanish, a little French, very little Portuguese, and a small amount of English. I told him I speak some German and very little Portuguese, so we sort of fumbled through all those languages and created one of our own that seemed to work.

Speaking of German, I ended up asking a German for directions and talking to him because I knew how to ask things in German that I didn’t in Portuguese. We spoke German for awhile, and then he just started speaking English because he probably knew that’s what I spoke. I feel like such an ignorant American sometimes :/

I searched around for my gate for awhile, and I think I should say that I’m very good at using brief words to get information out of people. I’m also very good at asking if people speak English, and saying thank you. There was this other nice man who translated for me and this flight guy who only spoke Portuguese. I would say that 35% of the people I’ve talked to here speak broken English. That’s nice, but this is also an airport and I don’t know if I should expect that in Recife.

After that, I went to get a sandwich and successfully talked to the Portuguese speaking woman at the counter, asked her if it was okay to pay in American dollars, and explained that I didn’t have any Real. She said it was just fine, so I bought my stuff, and as I was paying this business guy in a suit came up to the woman and started talking to her in Portuguese, and all the sudden he had my twenty dollars and I had twelve Real. I gave them a very confused look, and this man piped up from the back and said in English “Do you understand?”. I shook my head, said “Nao?” and he proceeded to explain to me that the man wanted American money and I was getting my change in Real. I ate lunch with these guys, and we talked about a lot of different things. They are lawyers, and the English speaking one gave me his card and said to call him if I’m ever in trouble because he will help me :D As a side note, one of the differences in Brazil already is that the tables in airports are ones that you stand at. There aren’t any chairs..and most tables are actually counters. It provides for a sufficient way to exchange pleasant words and have a casual conversation with a stranger. So far, Brazilians fit the general stereotype of warm, friendly and open people. This man explained the currency exchange to me, and told me how to pronounce my host families names. I gave twenty dollars to the man who already had my American money, and he gave me back 33 Real, which was an extra dollar than he had to. Real are so pretty. I like them more than the American dollar, but that could just be because they’re exotic and colourful.

I should go find my gate now, but the man at the top that you see is the lawyer who ate lunch with me. He was very lawyer like...he told me how to eat my sandwich and demanded that I keep eating when we would start talking, ha. He was pleasant, though, and taught me how to say “nice” “beautiful” and “kind”. We parted with a hug and a kiss on the cheek (its a Brazil thing, not a pedophile thing) and I have his business card in case I ever get in any “trouble”..whatever that means :p

-Madeline