Observations

Observations:

I'm surprised that I don't have a stutter. I'm constantly saying things three times in my head. Why do you ask? Well, since you're so curious, I'll tell you. It's because I'm translating everything into the three languages that are rumbling around in my brain. "Good morning" "Bom día" "Buenos días" The accents are all different, and half the time, I'm talking with someone from Bolivia and someone from Brazil ,and I can't make up my mind as to which language I should be speaking. Mental gymnastics. Sweet.

You know how in the US, it's customary to insult a guy's manliness by asserting that he enjoys fruity alcoholic beverages? One of my favorites is, "Jim Tressell drinks wine coolers." (Go Blue!) Brazilians don't think this way. The national beverage, the caipirinha, is cachaça (sugar can liquor), limes, sugar, and ice. They also enjoy the caipivodka with any fruit you can mash- strawberries, pineapple, lemons, passionfruit, etc. So, the manliest of Brazilian men can sit outside on the terrace, next to the beach and sip the fruitiest of beverages out of a rocks glass with a little straw, and nobody thinks any less of him.

Speaking of straws… (what a segway), everyone drinks with a straw. This includes out of glasses at restaurants and especially out of aluminum cans of pop. Everyone is scared of contracting some rat urine disease, and I guess drinking Fanta de Laranja (orange) straight from the can is a very serious health risk. I didn't know this social norm until I got a couple strange looks at lunchtime when I popped the top of my Coca Cola Light and took an drink American style, and then looked around. The fact that they prefer straws isn't really the funny part. The irony of it all is that nobody ever sticks a straw in their can of beer. (Can you imagine that image? I'm laughing to myself right now.) Plus, I'm pretty sure they drink way more beer than soda from cans. I mean, maybe Brazilian rats are highly intelligent and know not to pee on the cans that have an alcohol content written on them. Let's get some consistency here, you know what I mean?

Back to the regular update:

I met a couple guys from the States Saturday night. It was so fun to hear native English spoken. It made me realize how much my speech changes when I know I'm speaking to non-native speakers of English. I was sitting at the opposite end of the table of ten people, and amidst all the noise of the ocean and the restaurant, I could effortlessly hear and understand their entire conversation. Meanwhile, when I concentrated really hard on the Portuguese conversation right next to me, I only understood 60% of it. Funny how your brain works like that.

Carnaval is next week, and so everyone this week is going to busting their butts to get all the work we have to do done. If it doesn't get done, there will be no Carnaval in Rio for me. I think I would get the time off, but my friend, Bruno, who invited me to come with him to Rio, would have to stick around Macaé. That would be sad. Macaé really isn't fun for going out, and I would love to see Carnaval Rio-style. J

It's been rainy for the past week. It's really been a bit chilly in the evenings too. I mean, it's been like 70 degrees… with the ocean breeze, I can get goosebumps… brrrrr. :-P How's winter, Michiganders?

That's all for now. I'm feeling more and more at home, and I think I'm going to buy a cell phone soon. My Portuguese is getting better all the time, and I'm making more friends. The more friends part is especially good, because I just had two friends leave to go to school in France for two months, and two more are ending their internships and might not come back to Macaé. What a turbulent social network!

Later!
Hasta luego!
Até logo!