adventures in brazilian bureaucracy

Today I registered with the Federal Police, an assurance that bureaucracy is universal. When you arrive in Brazil and are staying for a longer period of time, you must register with the police within 30 days of your arrival, basically so they know you are where you say you are. Luckily, the school organizes groups of students to go each day, and drives us 30 minutes to the International Airport on the other side of the city where the office is located. Apparently, they only see 60 “estrangeiros” per day (a term they use for foreigners, which sounds more like “alien” to me). They begin handing out numbers at 7am and the office opens at 8am. If you don’t get there before 6:30am, you are likely out of luck (which happened to us yesterday☹). Therefore, we met at 6am for a sleepy bus ride to the airport, waited in line till 7:30am when they finally decided to start handing out numbers, and then proceeded to wait in a waiting room until 1pm when we were finished being processed.

Anywhere else, 6 hours in a waiting room would seem like eternity, but I found it rather interesting. Between reading, chatting with other students, and going on coffee breaks, I studied the others in the waiting room. People from all over the world waited patiently for an attendant to examine their documents and fingerprint them. They all seemed prepared for the wait and no one seemed rushed to get out. Unlike in the US, people were not complaining, talking loudly on cell phones, or diligently working from a laptop or smart phone. In fact, they seemed rather relaxed.

We chatted with an Egyptian cage fighter who is training in Brazil for 6 months, and joked around with the fingerprint guy who told us “his wife would be upset if he knew he got to hold hands with all these pretty girls in one day.” Besides the expected one cranky, overweight, hating-his-life guy who yelled at us to stop being so happy and stop lounging like it was our own house (never mind we had been waiting for 6 hours), everyone seemed very laidback. When I finally got to see an official around noon, she was chatting lightly with her co-worker, cracking jokes, and deciding where she wanted to go to lunch. No wonder we had to wait so long.

It’s going to take me some time to fully understand and maybe even adapt the mentality here. I’ve already cut down my amount of “sticky notes” on my desktop from 4+ to one lonely note listing fun stuff I to do each week. My “to do” list has become more like a “maybe I’ll do these things if I feel like it.. sometime.. maybe” then a strict checklist. Maybe you should try it. You might be surprised by how much you like it ☺

It's so hard to study while "studying" abroad...

I love going to a Catholic University. Wednesday was São Sebastião Day so we didn’t have class. Of course, we used this free day to beach it up hardcore. We hopped a bus 20 minutes south to Barra de Tijuca. This area is technically still in Rio, but you would never know it by the look of it. The gorgeous beach was very wide, clean, and had beautiful clear water. We passed a good chunk of the day taking naps in the shade and taking cool dips in the sea. The sun is so strong here that even after re-applying sunscreen three times and staying under an umbrella when not in the water, all of us still managed to get scorched.



Barra (pronounced baha) is considered the “Hollywood” of Rio. This is where many of the “new rich” people such as futébol stars, singers, and actors reside and it is also where they are beginning construction on facilities for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics! Although I didn’t get to explore the city part of this area, I definitely want to come back and learn about the Olympic plans. Everyone here is very excited and proud to host both the 2016 Olympics, and the 2014 World Cup. The country will be changing a lot within the next few years and I hope to get a feel for the city before and after the changes ☺ Below is an ad for the Olympics that is all over the city. It reads, "another future starts now."



The other day, I was reading a Brazilian paper and noticed a whole article dedicated to a NYT article about how Rio is cracking down on security before the Olympics. It read something like “the world is noticing our security efforts” and seemed rather proud to be mentioned in the NYT (with a inset picture of the NYT article). It’s funny how integrated America is in Brazilian life. Half of the programs on TV are in English and have voice over or subtitles. Many English words are used in the names of stores, food, or other products. Maybe they think English looks chic? Kind of like those people who get tattoos in Chinese or Arabic because they think it looks cool? I’m not sure if that’s the reason or not, but either way it’s hilarious to hear the different pronunciations.

My top 4 favorite English words in Portugûese:
1. Chic (pronounced and written “chique”). Gets me every time ☺
2. Picnic (pronounced “pick-e-nick-y”). Hilarious!
3. Hotdog (pronounced “hot-che-dog-y”). Also great.
4. Titanic (pronounced "chi-che-neek-y"). Seriously couldn't stop laughing...

Love it ☺

I also went on a very nice walk this evening to Lagoa, a lake just down the street from my apartment. It had just stormed heavily and the sun came out. It was gorgeous! We even saw parts of a rainbow!

I took the opportunity to take lots of pictures with the one and only.. Christ ;)




PS- Yes I actually am studying also. I gave a presentation on my hometown today in class and talked all about cornfields, the windmill farm, and my grandparents Dairy farm. Tomorrow I have my first test! Although this intensive language month is not technically for a grade, if you don’t “pass” you can’t take the next level during the semester. I better get studying!

Faux Pas

Let’s just say that hypothetically, if you were to tell someone you were “muito barata” it does not mean drunk. It means cheap. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything :/

Things Brazilians are obsessed with

1. Cheese
Cheese balls, bread and cheese, cheese quiches, cheese sandwiches, cheese croissants… EVERYTHING has cheese

2. Telenovelas (soap operas)
Life stops for many people in the evening when the whole family gathers around the TV or at the local barzinho (little bar) to watch novelas. They are just as ridiculously cheesy with questionable acting as soap operas in the US. The difference? Here, fans are not limited to old widows over the age of 65. Even young men love the hot women and drama. Think One Tree Hill/Days of Our Lives.

3. Futébol. Duh. Do I even need to explain?

4. Energy Conservation
All appliances are unplugged when not in use. When you leave a room for one minute, you turn off the lights, fans, etc. There are no unnecessary appliances.

5. Juice Bars
There are juice bars on literally every corner. I’m talking fresh squeezed juice made from your choice of over 20+ kinds of fruits/vegetables

"oh its just a 20 minute walk"

The other day, Jenny, Daniel (Jenny’s host brother) and I went hiking to a beautiful waterfall in the Botanical Garden very close to our neighborhood.



Now, when I say “hiking,” let me just give you a glimpse of what I mean: rock climbing barefoot in a bikini while dodging fire ants and scaling inclines by climbing up tree roots.



So. Freakin. Awesome. The pay off was great too! After a “20 minute walk” aka: hour intense hike, we got to a secluded waterfall with crystal clear and crisp water where we cooled off and continued to hike higher to another part of the waterfall. We were deep in a jungle, yet still in the middle of one of the biggest cities in South America!

trabalho a vivir, não viva para trabalhar

Carnaval is less than a month away and in true Brazilian form, the city is already starting it’s celebrations. Every neighborhood has a “bloco” or organized band and dancers who perform different types of Brazilian music and dress up in costumes for street parades. Walk anywhere in the city in the late afternoon/evening and you will likely run into a bloco practicing their lineup for Carnaval. Last night we went with some Brazilian friends to one of these outdoor concerts/practices. The music was unbelievable, the dancing was great, and the best part? It was pouring rain! Everyone was drenched from head to toe and still had a great time! Our friends then drove us to a club down the street, and the car broke down in the middle of the highway! We ended up pushing the car to a gas station, and wading through knee deep water in the streets to get to this place, where we proceeded to dance like maniacs till 5 in the morning ☺ It’s typical here for people to not go out until midnight or so and stay out till 6am (when most things close). Unbelievable night! Not to mention after a few capirinhas, I seem to be fluent in Portuguese… ☺

Today, Jenny and I went downtown and wandered through the old part of town. The architecture is very European and there are praças everywhere filled with pigeons (which the Portuguese imported to make the place look more European). We wandered through the Saturday markets, attempted bartering for various items, and then stumbled across another bloco practice. We ended up sitting at a café and eating a delicious lunch, drinking cervejas, talking, and listening to the great Samba music for the rest of the afternoon ☺

Coco v. Cocô

Brief rundown of what I’ve been up to:

This week has been wonderful. I’m starting to settle down and feel at home here. I’m also kind of learning my way around... slowly but surely if you know me ☺ My intensive Portuguese class started Monday and it’s going very well. I’m learning much more than sentence structure, vocabulary and verb conjugations, but also customs, music, slang phrases, culture, history, and much more. Although it’s nearly five hours each day (8:30-1pm), I still have all afternoon/evening to sightsee or just relax on the beach (which I have been doing a LOT of ☺ ).

In my neighborhood there is a little strip of outdoor restaurants and bars that is always full of people. After a long day at the beach, me and two other girls from my program got sushi and capirinhas (Brazil’s national drink made of sugar cane alcohol and fruit juice), and talked for hours. It is so cool to talk to people who have had the coolest experiences and who have interests and goals. By being so far removed from your typical environment, you can really look at the big picture and see all the opportunities before you.

Last night, Jenny’s host brother Daniel, who is our age, showed us the ropes on the public busses and we went to Copacabana (a 20 minute bus ride up the coast) to meet up with a bunch of international students and interns. Again, I talked to people from Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, and of course Brazil.

Some fun cultural facts:

Food:
-For breakfast I eat a typical Brazilian breakfast which consists of bread, cheese, juice, and fruit
-Lunch is really big and typically is rice, beans, farofa, salad, some kind of marinated meat, juice, and jello or pudding. It is usually eaten around 1 or 2pm.
-Lanche is a midday snack that might be a piece of fruit, popsicle or a roll.
-Dinner, if they even have it, is usually something very small. Sometimes a piece of fruit, a small sandwich, or a piece of pizza and is eaten around 10pm.
-Juice bars are on EVERY corner and people hang out there all day long
-Tap water is not safe to drink so families have water dispensers or filters in their houses

Beach Culture:
-Cariocas (residents of Rio), spend all weekend at the beach with their families. However, they don’t bring anything with them. No towel, water, or clothes.
-Everyone rents chairs and umbrellas. Rarely do you see someone laying out on the sand like most Americans do. I think it is because the sun is so strong here.
-Brazilian bikinis and Speedos. Everywhere. Enough said.
-Soccer games everywhere
-Strong undertow and large waves so you can’t swim out very far, but its fun to play in!
-Vendors sell food, drinks, swimsuits, sunscreen, and everything else you can think of walk the beaches. I’ve had a coconut milk almost everyday that I’ve been here!! But you have to be careful to order a coco, not a cocô or else you might get “poop” instead of “coconut!”

Customs:
-VERY laidback, never worry about being late and walk slowly
-When women greet other women or men, they kiss each other once on each cheek, and when men greet other men, they hug. When you are greeting a group of people at a party or something, you must greet each person with a hug or kiss when you get there and before you leave
-Restrooms in Brazil have bidet and a trashcan for toilet paper
-When parking your car in the city, you pay a man to watch your car so it is not stolen or vandalized. Although this is not an official law, if you don’t pay, the attendant might vandalize your car himself
-Time and distance are VERY relative here. I went on a hike that a Brazilian told us was supposed to be 20 minutes and it was actually 2 hours! Another time, a Brazilian told us it was a 15 minute bus ride and it was 40 minutes. Also a “5 minute walk” is more like 20 minutes. When a party or something starts at a certain time, no one comes until 2 hours later. It’s just expected here.
-Brazilians are very indirect. They consider it rude to answer “no” to any question. For example, if someone invites you somewhere and you don’t want to go, you say something like “yeah maybe that sounds good.” Confusing!
-However, although they are indirect with some things, men are not indirect at all when they like a woman. Catcalls, and remarks are common. Also, at bars or clubs, it is not unusual for a man to approach a woman and just start kissing her. I’d say that’s pretty direct!
-They also want to be helpful at all times. This means that if you are lost and ask someone for directions, they will give them to you, whether they actually know where somewhere is or not. If you ask four people, you will probably get four completely different instructions.


I will add more as I come across them! Ciao for now!

PS- I don't have wi-fi so I've been "borrowing" internet access from "Beto," whoever that is, so its pretty spotty.. I'm working on a more permanent solution so that I can video chat with friends and family :)

attempting to blend in

Last night, Jenny and I went out with one of her friends, Louis who is from Rio and attended PUC for undergrad, but is currently getting his masters degree at the University of Illinois. He drove us around our neighborhood hotspots and we had drinks at an outside bar/pizza parlor. It’s like Antonios but WAYYY better! There are restaurants like this and juice bars everywhere where huge crowds of young (and old) people gather outside. There is usually a bar with a few tables outside on the sidewalk and everyone else crowds around on the sidewalk and street drinking and talking. It is a really fun atmosphere! It was still about 80 degrees at 11pm and the cold Brahma was much appreciated ☺

This morning we got a tour of PUC, the university I will be studying at for both an Intensive Language class for the next 3 weeks, and the regular semester, which begins in March. We have all of February off for Carnaval and the tail end of Brazilian students summer. I plan on experiencing Carnaval in Rio but hope to also travel around the area with the extra time.

PUC is a private Catholic university in the southern region of Rio. It is actually located in my own neighborhood, Gávea. In contrast to the US, public universities in Brazil are actually more prestigious than private universities, in general. However, PUC has a great reputation and many of the countries biggest business owners have graduated from there. The campus is literally in a jungle. Vines, trees, and a small river run in between campus buildings. They say you can even spot monkeys in the trees if you get lucky. I’m going to bring bananas to class everyday now.. just in case ☺

PUC has many partnerships with large companies and corporations such as Petrobás, a large Brazilian oil company. The businesses sponsor buildings and programs for students to do research and develop new products for the companies. Students who are interested in starting their own businesses can even rent offices to run out of. I was very impressed by the community involvement and initiative of the PUC students.

After orientation, Jenny and I attempted to join the outside world via buying cell phones. QUITE an adventure. First, we needed to exchange money. Logically, we thought a bank would do this for us, and we entered a revolving door at Itáu. I pushed the door and just as I got completely inside the door, it locked. I was stuck inside!! As I struggled to decipher the big sign on the door in front of me that explained that the door was something of a metal detector which required you to put all your electronics through first, a security guard came over laughing and let me in. All that trouble, and they didn’t have a cash exchange! We left embarrassed as the two security guards continued laughing at us ☺ We then entertained yet another security guard inside the mall by asking him where to exchange money. He could tell we were completely confused. He directed us to a travel agency upstairs which had yet ANOTHER crazy ass door!! The doorman told us to step in one door and the door behind us closed. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic or I wouldn’t survive here! He kept putting his hands up in a pushing motion so we tried pushing the door in front of us. Apparently his hand signal meant “wait” not “push.” I can’t even understand sign language, much less Portuguese ☺ Eventually the door opened and we successfully exchanged our money. Whew!

On to the next adventure… finding a cell phone. Among the things I have found surprisingly expensive in Brazil are peanut butter, sunscreen (I spent R$31, or about $20 on a small bottle) and electronics. Hence, we didn’t really want to buy a crappy new cell phone for $80. We were told we could “unlock” our AT&T phones and replace the SIM cards. Although I thought this may or may not be legal, we tried our best to convince 3 different stores to “unlock” our phones (in broken Portuguese, of course). Long long long story short: no luck. We decided to give up for the day and ended our afternoon drinking coconut milk on beautiful Léblon beach.

broken door handles and coconut milk

The past three days have been a complete blur! My journey started driving from Bloomington, IL to O’Hare airport Tuesday morning. Then caught a two hour plane to Charlotte, and a 10 hour plane to Rio de Janeiro. With the four hour time difference, I arrived in Rio very tired, groggy, and sooo ready for a shower around 9 am, just when the rest of the city was just getting started. After customs, immigration, finding our luggage, and our airport pickup, I kinda felt like I went through a washing machine. We then caught a bus which dropped off 5 of us at different homestays throughout the city (yes, they did find me a home ☺ ). The two hour bus ride was a great way to see the city! The city is nestled between very unique looking mountains and the famous Christ the Redeemer statue can be seen from almost anywhere.

I arrived at my home and no one answered the door. After several phone calls and pacing around outside for about 15 minutes, my 13 year old host brother, Lucas, rode up on his bike from the beach and let me in. He showed me the ropes and said I would meet his mother, Alma, when she got home from her work at a Brazilian TV studio. This was all around 1pm. I waited anxiously waited around the apartment for her for several hours. At one point, I tried to leave and walk to the beach (about a 20 minute walk from my apartment in Gávea), but the door was locked from both the inside and outside (Dad, you would be proud). They are so safe I could not get OUT! At one point, I pulled so hard the door handle completely fell off! Oh, not to mention, my host brother left while I was asleep and I couldn’t find any food to eat. She finally came home around 8:30pm. I was too embarrassed to tell her what had happened! Quite hilarious ☺

She only speaks Portuguese so my speaking skills will definitely improve very quickly. Lucas has taken 3 years of English in school. They are both very kind and welcoming and I think we will get along well. I gave them a book with photographs of Illinois which they loved! They found the cornfields "bonita" although I still think they have the better deal with scenery :)

We only live a 10 minute walk from the school I attend. I got soo lucky! Some people live an hour away by metro and bus which they have to pay for. The area I live and go to school is one of the richest neighborhoods in South America, although it is definitely not as “nice looking” as most Americans would expect. I had orientation this morning and met the other 150 or so international students from about 15 countries and most states. I talked to three guys from Paris, ate with a guy from Copenhagen, a Portuguese girl from Georgetown University, a girl from Spain, one from Chicago, and an older man who is traveling to over 40 countries around the world and scuba diving! Talk about an interesting and diverse crowd! I can’t wait to get to know them all better.

After our orientation and oral exams, Jenny and I headed straight to the beach! It was about 90 degrees today and humid. It’s also their summer so kids are not in school so the beach was very crowded. We walked down Leblón and Ipanema beaches and tried to dodge the fútebol games that were literally EVERYWHERE. Then we drank coconut milk while watching guys play soccer over a volleyball net. They were so good!

Well, that’s all for now. I’m going to try to keep them short so it’s not so overwhelming to read. Ciao!

Ps-I can feel my tan kicking in now..