melancia e pizza

Last weekend i went to Itacare' which took about 6 hours to get to on ferry boat and bus. It was thursday night when i was going to spend the weekend at home, but then i just said "F@#$ it i'm going." I left with 5 other people friday morning at 6am. Itacare' is really nice and peaceful. Friday: went swimming for a bit, climbed some rocks, and almost swam to the light house. The waves were really big. We met up with Jessica's and Danya's groups at "Buddy's Hostel" where a bunch of english-speaking people were staying. Everyone seemed dead tired there, so we bounced onto the bars on the street. While my 5 friends stayed in a 5-bed room, i stayed in a 6-bed room and i ended up making friends with the other 4 strangers. 1 girl was from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the other guys were from Belo Horizonte, Sao Paolo, and Minas Gerais, Brazil. All cool people. The 6 of us from Salvador made friends with Jose. Really cool surfer guy in his early 30's. Saturday: zipline and 3 hour hike. I wanted to go rafting but not everyone wanted to go. Sunday: Sarah's bday and all you can eat pizza for $R18 (1 $USD = 1.65 $R) which was sooo good.

Yesterday, friday, about 20-25 of us from our group of 38 went to Matt's penthouse. His place is really nice. He lives in an apartment, but his apartment is 2 floors! SiiiiiiCK! I want to keep his puppy, its so fluffy! His host dad was drinking with us. Really cool guy who would say "Where is my son?" Cute. Drank from about 9pm to 3am. So much fun.

I'm going to the city Rio de Janeiro (it is also a state) this wednesday for 5 days!!! yeah its going to be so much fun. 8 of us are on the same flight, 12 of us are going and staying at the same place.

I need to keep a journal. I feel like i've forgotten everything i've been doing since i left the U.S. to come to Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

If i counted right, my flight to go home to Los Angeles is 50 days from today. eeek!

Arroz, sol, e festa!

Rice, sun, and party. That's pretty much what i do. Oh, and school too.
My host mother makes rice and beans with pretty much every meal! The food is sooo good!

I don't know why there is a culture of tanning. Huh? I'm trying to avoid the sun and you're trying to soak it? On a U.V. scale, it is 10 here in Salvador pretty much all the time. That's really dangerous! It's the 2nd to last on the end of the danger spectrum. Definitely don't need skin cancer or anything like that. But i do need to even out my "krispy-kreme: glaze" arm and leg tan. It's bad.

Ahhhhh I am in Brazil. I bought my ticket to go to Rio de Janeiro next month!!!

I need to start doing stuff that is productive, such as volunteering or learning how to play a percussion instrument. My host brother and his friends can play the guitar. Last night, his friend played "Is this love" by Bob Marley and he sang it in English. It was awesome.

Brazil has a lot of weird animals, such as a monkey-squirrel that acts as my alarm at 5am every day!!! They are tiny. Also, açaí is soooo good! I did not know it existed. There's a place that specializes in it right by my house. I want to go right now!! it's 8:11pm. It's made into some type of liquid/sorbet/ ahhh just so good.

I miss being in the states, but Brazil is beautiful.
tchau

The kitchen utensils are keeping me from eating watermelon with my hands.

How do you eat fruit in Brazil, with your hands or through the usage of kitchen utensils? So fancy!

Clique. It never ceases to get old. I've noticed it soo much with the other students and it makes me mad. I hate it. I want to be friends with everyone. I don't want to exclude myself and miss out on the opportunity of getting to know everyone. I've made the effort to make conversations with almost everyone. But, like high school, the close minded & stuck-up stick together.

I've gone out so many times this week. The bars/clubs are really fun (depending on who you go with). I haven't really been digging the Brazilian dance styles because I don't know how to dance them. I'm hoping to learn tho, they seem really fun!

I recently went out to a restaurant with a friend from the program. We drank beers and talked for three hours. It was really fun actually, i had a great time. Simple things make me happy. But the rain is so random. It was raining on our way there. When we got there, it stopped. As soon as we got up to go home, it started raining again. Crazy!!

Today is my 25th day in Brazil. I bought a flight to go to Rio de Janeiro in October for 5 days. I just want to explore and see the Cristo Redentor statue.

Morro de São Paolo

Just got back from one of the best Islands ever! Actually, the only island i've ever been to. After a ferry ride, a car ride, and another boat, we finally made it to our 4 night stay at a place where the only method of transportation is by wheelbarrow.

Drinks, food, beaches, women, live music. The best. I made friends with so many locals, it was ridiculous. Our neighbor dresses up as Captain Jack Sparrow during his free time. We stayed right across from a market that sells so much alcohol. We may have bought them out.

Brazil is crazy about electronic music and Lady Gaga. One of the clubs was on a hillside and it was outdoors! How awesome is that; dancing to music while the ocean breeze is cooling you down.

You know its time to wake up when the sun is in your face, ice is being bagged, and the neighbors are playing loud music. Our only knowledge of time was either from ipods or cameras.

I got to see my first Capoeira performance! And then we explored. We had no directions. Why the fudge for?! No destination.

Unfortunately, i did not get to see the sunrise from the island. You would think that being in a place with a bunch of people that i know, somebody would have woken me up to see it. Selfish, right? Eh. F it.

I definitely won't miss cold showers with shower-heads that shock you, the mosquito's, or the expensive food. But i will miss being on the island with everyone from the program that was able to go.

I have to go now. tchau.

Chilean band playing salsa music in Brazil

There are 38 people in our program. I think all 38 of us were out last night together celebrating one of the girl's 21st birthday. She is Brazilian and Chinese, cool right?! We were in Pelourinho which is in the western part of Salvador. This is where slaves received their punishment during the time when the Portuguese invaded this native land. But anyways....The live band filled with drums on the street was awesome! People were dancing freely.

After that we went to a club/bar for a night of salsa music. I like salsa music but i still need more practice in dancing to it. I'm very eager to learn; want to teach me? Obrigado (thank you). I had 4 Capirinha's which is equivalent to about 8 shots worth of Brazilian liquor. Success. The night had it's FUgly parts, but what can you do. hmmm. You get to see people's hidden side when they drink. I'm very observant. Lets converse about it over coffee.

Anyways....Today i got out of class at 12:00. Then sat for 20 minutes listening to pointless info. Walked home for 20 minutes. Ate for 20 minutes. Did my hw, and got back to my next class which started at 1:30pm. Crazy. Once class was over, went to the mall to try and buy a phone. Fail. Foreigners need passports to obtain a cellular device and i don't carry mine with me. Oh and i bought a highlighter! I can't read and mark stuff down without one.

My host sister who is 25 has a 2 year old son. He calls me "uncle Bryant," but in English, not in Portuguese. I hope he doesn't cry when I leave.

Yep.

Oi, tudo bem?

As i sit here in my Brazilian CASA, listening to The Smiths, it's hard to believe I am here in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. I spent a week in Buenos Aires, Argentina and a day in Colonia, Uruguay with one of the coolest, sincerest person i have ever met. She likes to take creepy pictures, and she carries a fluffy Llama. Do you know her? Jessica is awesome. The mini-trip would have been boring without her.

So anyways...L.A. to San Fran in 1 hour, SF to Lima in 10 hours, Lima to B.A. in....damn i forgot! But it was the longest day of my life. I could not sleep at all. I'm just getting over the jet lag and the 4 hour differences. In B.A., we went on a river cruise of Tigre, went to a River Plate game with some crazy fans, got lost in a cemetery, met people from all over the world, and got married by a determined taxi driver. Great, right? Egg-zactly!! Uruguay was kinda boring. It was really cold, but we got to ride on a motor bike and a 4-wheeler. Jessica likes to eat ice cream when its cold. Yeah, what a day. I have pictures on my facebook.

So thats about it. I've been out of the U.S. for about 12 days now. Brazil is amazing. The streets are filled with crazy drivers, monkey-squirrels crawling on power-lines, beautiful beaches, hot weather, and it feels like you can't breathe because there isn't much air flow. Walking distance, i live 20 minutes away from the school. The food is really good! Lots of colors and flavors in each item. And there's so much of it. My host mother calls me "meu filho" which means "my son." Cute, right? Definitely. So it is about 9pm here, 5pm in the states. There's so much i want to write but im sleepy and need to get ready to go out.

Boa noite. Tchau. Ate logo.