Obrigada!

I will never forget my two weeks in Brazil or the last day at school with everyone.  I have already played these memories over again and again in my head. On that last day I went around and around giving hugs, saying goodbye, and promising to keep in touch with my new friends. It was amazing to look around at the group of people surrounding us and think through all of the great times that I had with each one of them. They are a fantastic group of students, and I feel so privileged to have been able to spend two great weeks with them! 

It was so hard to say goodbye, but we finally did and got in the bus. From the bus, we pulled up the window and said more goodbyes through it while holding some of the students' hands. I will never forget pulling away from the school and seeing students crowded, waving to us. I took one last look at the crowd and each person's face. I have replayed this several times in my head since I have been home. It was so sad, but just looking back on all of the good times that we had together, it was so special. When we got to the entrance of the school, we saw students running through the building to the other side so that they could wave to us yet again. I think that most of us had tears streaming down our faces until we got to the airport (the United States for some of us). For me, goodbyes are always hard, but these goodbyes were especially hard because I had built good relationships with each of the people that I looked around and saw. 

I just wanted to take the time to thank all the SESC students and staff. You all are incredible! You were so hospitable and welcoming to all of us! You all had such a big impact on me (and I think the other Community School students would agree), and I will never forget you and our experiences. Thank you for all of the memories, experiences, and friendships that each one of us got out of this trip. You are the best! 

p.s. Enjoy the rest of your stay, Eric! I'm so jealous!

Saudades, Brasil!

~Meredith

Portuguese, Portuguese, and more Portuguese.

It's all (mostly) that I am talking in. It's quite fun (and hard) to try to speak everything and understand everything.  As it generally always is with learning a new language, there are many funny moments with mistranslations of things or me saying the wrong things (the cow is salty, as opposed to the beef is salty).  Whether it is the brazilians all trying to reach me how to say sim (yes) correctly or saying órgão (organ, a very hard word to say) it's always fun and funny (two very different words).  There's no more english being spoken (mostly) except when I can't say something in portuguese or they can't explain something to me the portuguese so that I can understand it.  

However, one side effect of speaking all in portuguese is that my written english seems to be getting worse.  As I was reading through this, I found many many grammar mistakes and mispellings and other bad mistakes that I shouldn't be making.  In this post I will personally take responsibility for the grammar mistakes but blame it on portuguese.

After having attended classes for two days, I appreciate so much more how much easier TCS is.  We don't have to take 4 hour tests on a saturday morning or take biology, chemistry, and physics for all four years of high school.  I have yet to get used to attending classes all day (7:30 to 4:35) so by the time 4:35 rolls around I am exhausted and all I want to do is sleep.  But there is still the rest of the day to get through.  

It seems very strange that I am the only american here.  On the day everyone left I was standing in front of the building where everyone was gathered to say goodbye and random people came up to me to hug me and say goodbye, only to be surprised when I told them that I was staying.  That just goes to show that brazilians are much happier people and even though we might not have known them, they knew us and wanted to say goodbye to those who were leaving.  

But yea.  That's all for now and I'm off to go do something after having woken up at 10 o'clock here.

Tchau from Brasil!!!

ERIC

PS.  Tapioca's are delicious

PPS. So are mangos

PPPS. Mullberry (amora in portuguese) juice is quite good as well

Idahome

Well, after a tearful goodbye and a long day of traveling, we've made it home to Sun Valley. We actually got back two days ago, but it has taken us a little while to re-charge and get back into the swing of things. I've mainly been sleeping, telling my parents many stories, unpacking, putting my treasures on display, and sifting through the 1,600+ photos I took. However, I haven't been able to stop thinking about that goodbye.

On the final day of our time in Brazil, we attended classes in the morning, had our final lunch (filled with many tears on my part), and had to say goodbye to all of the amazing people that we met (filled with many more tears on everyone's part). Most of us couldn't help but breakdown when a large group of students skipped their 4:00 workshop to say goodbye to us. I gave a few notes to some of my very close new friends (thanking them for their kindness and generosity, complimenting them on their wonderful personalities, and reflecting on our fun times together) and was pleased to receive some notes of my own, even if they were written in Portuguese! I even received a hand-carved wooden trinket from one of my dear friends Matheus that he brought from his home state in Brazil. What really made me lose it, though, was just looking around at all of the bright faces of the students. With so much joy and friendship among them, I couldn't help but reflect on the amazing time that I had being apart of it all. The people that we met are genuinely incredible, and I feel so lucky to have met them. Many long hugs were exchanged and group photos were taken, and the Americans were herded onto the bus and driven off into the Rio sunset. At the airport, we had another tearful goodbye as we parted ways with Eric (who is lucky enough to still be at SESC!) and Geraldo, our Brazilian Cutthroat who we've all gotten to know so well. Since he's staying in Brazil until college at Lafayette in the fall, we were forced to say a real goodbye since we don't know when we'll see him again. Just reflecting on all of the things that Geraldo has done for us, remembering all of the fun times we've had, and thinking about how truly successful he will be made most of us tear up yet again. So, it was a tearful day of sad goodbyes as we were forced to part ways with the wonderful people that we'd grown to love in Brazil.

The long journey home went smoothly, for the most part, even though our flight in Houston was delayed a bit and we had to sprint through the Denver airport, only to discover that our plane from Denver to Boise had a loose board in the ceiling (which was thankfully taped back together...). But, we did make it to Boise safely and were greeted by my Mom and Dad, who had decorated the Community School bus with welcome home signs and streamers and took us to Red Robin for good 'ol American cheeseburgers!

On the bus ride from Boise to Sun Valley, we discussed the trip as a whole and reflected on our experiences. I think that while all of us were very heartbroken to leave such a perfect and pleasant place, we were thankful to have been blessed with the experience. I just keep reminding myself of the many experiences that I had and amazing people that I'm now friends with. Thank goodness for email and social networking; I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't stay in contact with all of my new friends!

I miss all of our Brazilian friends so much, but I'm very thankful for the experience.

Here are a few photos from our goodbyes.

We hope you're still having a good time, Eric!

Tchau!
Sophia




P.S. While most of us have put many, many photos up on our Facebooks, I know that they aren't accessible to everyone, so we're currently in the process of creating a Picassa album in order to share all of our photos. We'll keep you posted!

Last Day :(

Well, the day has come. In 10 hours, we will be departing from the Rio airport, heading home. It's come too soon! I can't believe it's been two weeks! In a strange way, it seems like it's been both shorter and longer than that. In a way, two weeks is hardly anything- I feel like there is still so much more we need to do, and so many more people at the school to meet! But at the same time, it feels like we´ve been here forever. I can't believe that I've only known most of these people for only two weeks-  I feel like it's been so much longer. I can't believe it was only two weeks ago that I was whining about being stuck in Houston. And though, of course, there's still so much more that we could do, we´ve done so much! We´ve been to Ipanema, Copacabana, and Cristo Redentor- all of the major attractions of Rio. But we also did some amazing things that the ordinary tourist doesn't expereince. We spent a wonderful week in the Pantanal, seeing the beautiful river, the increadible animals, and learning more about SESC. We were taught all of the vital Portuguese frazes (arrasa- you rock!). And, most importantly, we met so many wonderful people! Though it was a challenge keeping track of the names of everyone who cheerfully said "Hi, my name is --!", it wasn't a challenge to make friends with all of these people. Everyone has been so helpful and friendly. As I said before, I can't believe that I´ve only known these people for two weeks. The students at SESC will be what I will miss the most about Brazil, and also what I will remember the most about the trip. I don't look forward to having to say goodbye to all of these people in just a few hours. Thank god for Facebook!
Well, I guess the next time I talk to any of you will be when I'm back in the US. I don't want to go!

-Camille

Is Dancing Fun? (Isobel's version)

YES! I don't know what Eric was thinking when he said that dancing wasn't fun.  Don't listen to him because he's crazy and dancing is so much fun, and it is especially fun with crazy Brazilians who also love dancing! On our last night of the Pantanal (goodbye Pantanal!) we had a huge dance party and oh my gosh, it was so much fun! At 7:00 my group ventured out onto the river to have an evening boat ride.  Again we saw alligators and birds and iguanas, and it was an absolutely wonderful way to spend our last night in the Pantanal, but our evening didn't stop there.  When we got back, we ate dinner and rushed to our rooms to finish packing and get ready for our party.  I walked out of the room wondering where in the world this party be, but I found it rather quickly by following the flashing lights and pounding music coming from one of the main buildings at the hotel.  I walked in and found Americans and Brazilians all jumping and dancing and having fun.  Of course I expected to see something similar to our dances back at home, where the dancing there involves standing in a circle and either jumping and waving your arms, or fist pumping.  This dance, however, was very different.  Almost everyone danced the entire time, and they all knew how to dance really well! I do admit that there was a good amount of jumping, but this jumping was mixed with different and crazy foot steps and dance offs between the really good dancers.  I didn't understand or know most of the songs because a lot of them were in Portuguese.  During one of the songs, everyone grabbed on to each other and jumped in a a big hugging circle, and then everyone stopped and held up a finger to show that they were listening to the song.  I looked around in confusion to see if I could figure it out or if someone would explain it to me, but the next second, all of a sudden, everyone started to jump around while hugging one person in the middle of the circle.  Then they all stopped for another couple seconds, and then they all grabbed on to another person and started jumping/ hugging them.  It was insane! I had no idea what was going on, but it was still fun.  Later I found out that the song was saying that everyone should hug someone with a black shirt or everyone should dance with a girl.  We danced and danced and danced until midnight, when we had to get packed and out of our hotel rooms so that we could get on a bus, and then catch a plane back home to Rio.  It was the funnest dance ever! It was a perfect way to end our trip to the Pantanal!

The best part, though, was learning how to do Brazilian dance.  They taught us how to do a couple different types of dance, but my favorite was a dance called "rebolation." It involved a series of steps which forced you turn your feet in and out, and move them in all crazy directions.  When they first taught me, I was completely confused, and I probably looked ridiculous.  For a while I just flapped my feet around.  I'm sure that I looked super goofy, but soon I started to get it.  Then it got really fun; I learned how to go forward, back, side to side, and walking.  Some of the Brazilians were REALLY good at it.  I am definitely still a beginner, but I'll practice!

So, now we are back home, and of course we all miss the beautiful Pantanal, it is so nice to see all our friends again.  It is crazy and sad to think that we will be leaving soon, but we are all enjoying our time here while we still can! Luckily today is English Day, which is exciting because WE SPEAK THAT LANGUAGE! After playing flag football (which was confusing seeing as I know close to nothing about football), we are off to have a "quiz" about some environmental moives. 

Beijos!
-Isobel

Oh, P.S. Happy Father's day to my daddy and to all the fathers! We miss you and love you!

Last Day in the Pantanal

It's been a few days so I thought I'd leave a note for all of our dedicated followers...! Today is our last day here in the Pantanal. By the end of the day, all of us will have gotten the chance to participate in the following: big, 3 story boat ride on the river, motor boat ride through the creeks off of the main river (my personal favorite), a visit to the town of Poconé and it's SESC school and community center, a visit to the boboletària (butterfly dome - one of my favorite Portuguese words) and the visitors' center on site here at the hotel/preserve, a visit to the ranch/farm where they keep horses, rehabilitate lots of species of birds, esp. parrots and macaws, and run a huge composting/recycling center among other things, take a motor boat ride at night, and take a motor boat ride at dawn to watch the sunrise. It's been busy and fun and there has been plenty of time left over for swimming, dancing, singing and even for a horseback ride (in Meredith's case!). For the next 24 hrs or so you likely will not get a new post, because here is our itinerary for our return to Rio:

- check out of our rooms by 10pm
- party until midnight
- load the bus and drive back to the airport (2 hrs) at 1am
- first of 2 flights leaves sometime around 5:30am I think
- back by lunch to the school
- community service in a favela at 2pm!!!

My guess is we'll all be exhausted and get to bed early tomorrow night! On Sunday we will be at school all day for 'English Day' - they have a whole day of activities planned in English so we should be able to help everyone make the most of that! Then Monday we do a last day of sightseeing in Rio (Cristo Redentor - the iconic statue of Christ on the mountain top and Ipanema beach). Then Tues we'll got to classes for the last time and head to the airport for the long journey home! Woah - it's gone quickly, but it's not over yet! We'll try to get some good posts up when we get back to school. My camera is broken so we'll have to rely on others - everyone has been taking plenty so it won't be a problem! Can't wait to see Natalia and Geraldo again - we missed you two!
- Chauncy

Good Morning!

Boa noite from the beautiful SESC hotel in the Pantanal.  It's crazy to think that this is only our second day here! We all have been busy exploring the surrounding area and enjoying our time here.  This morning, while all were asleep and well in their beds, Group A (the best group ever!) woke up bright and early at 3:45 am to go on a boating adventure.  Feeling groggy and exhausted, we wandered out to meet 3 little jet boats sitting on the Cuiabá river.  We climbed in and we were off! The guide flicked a super powerful light from bank to bank and we could see tons of pairs of reflecting alligator eyes.  He would then illuminate the trees and we could see about a million different species of birds.  It was absolutely incredible, but that's not even the best part.  As we went, the sky began to change from dark to light pink, then to red, then to a beautiful combination of orange and blue.  We continued to zip along the river, passing trees and alligators and all sorts of wildlife, until the boat came to a stop.  I looked up and saw the sun begin to appear through the trees.  We sat in silence watching the sun rise over the river for a few minutes, and then we turned around and zipped back home again.  On the way I discovered that instead of the freezing, icy rivers that we have at home, the water is incredibly warm!  Perfect water for a bath or a hottub!... well if you want to bathe in dirty water with piranhas and alligators.  Despite our early wake up, it was a perfect start to the day.  Luckily we had time to go sleep afterwards.

Isobel

I'm on a Boat

Oi from the Pantanal from Camille! It's been so crazy and fun here, I don't even know where to start! Today, my group went on a wonderful boat ride on the Cuiabá River, part of which is located right here in the resort. At 3:30 (or 15:30), after a morning full of activities, we donned fluorescent yellow life jackets and headed down to the river. We were in a small boat with an outboard motor, which provided a wholly different experience from our cruise on the big boat yesterday. We quickly gained speed, and it was impossible not to smile. As we sped down the river, we saw all sorts of birds. Seriously, there was a crazy amount of birds. Every so often, our guide would kill the engine and we would drift to the side of the river to get a close view of some exotic animal. We saw a huge white, black, and red bird, which is only found in the Pantanal (I can't remember what it's called right now!), two Iguanas, a Capybara, and tons of alligators. I swear, we probably saw 20 alligators. We were able to get close to them - uncomfortably so - and at one point, one suddenly moved and I screamed!  Everytime I saw a splash in the water, I was reminded of what lurked in the river - Piranas! Unlike the ones sitting wrapped in my suitcase, these were dangerous; I was scared to put my hands near the water! As we turned around to head back to the resort, the sun was setting and, however cliché this may be, I felt like I was in a movie. It was an amazing trip, and I honestly couldn't believe that I had the opportunity to do something so special!
-Camille
(Sorry there are no pictures! The computer that I'm on won't let me upload them. I'll do a picture post at some point later, when I have some free time!)

Here we are in paradise

Oh dear – so much has been happening so fast and the internet here is so slow that I am going to have to be selective! Here is just one anecdote:

Yesterday we arrived in the Pantanal after a very long day of travel: bus to Rio airport (one of the longest parts of the trip – traffic!!!), plane #1 to Brasilia, plane #2 to Cuiabà, bus ride to the resort. It was dark when we arrived and the whole group (80 or so kids) clustered in the reception lobby of the resort to hear the ‘rules’ and the plan. The guy at reception said a few things in good English, promised to translate afterwards into English, and then proceeded to talk for about 10 mins in Portuguese. At certain moments, everyone laughed. At others, they broke into brief but animated conversation. At still others, they asked some questions and discussed the answers. Above all, they nodded their heads and understood. At the end of all that, here was the English translation we got: “At dinner, you have the right to have a soft drink. You also have the right to have a juice instead of a soft drink.” I’m pretty sure something got left out…

Tonight the kids all climbed to the top of the lookout tower (photos coming) and sat in the dark of the full moon and sang songs while one of them played guitar. It was a pretty feel good scene and I think everyone is feeling pretty good. 

our resort in the jungle                                                    and below, a view from our boat ride today

Oh - and you should know that Sophia and Meredith did aqua aerobics today. And Camille bought a dried piranha. And Morgan has the most beautiful curly locks in Brazil. And Isobel is getting up at 4am to watch the sun rise on the river. And Eric...Eric might never come home! He's Brazilian!

Flying, flying, flying, giant bump, landing

In all my years of flying on planes (and ostriches) I have never had a worse landing than on the flight from Rio to Brasília.  We were flying and nearing the ground and the pilot forgot to ease up on the throttle so we hit the ground hard and it was super super bumpy.  It was so bad that when we landed in Cuiabá after our next flight, everyone applauded the pilot because he/she didn't make the plane bounce when it landed.

The flight itself was much more interesting.  I never want to fly through a USA airport again.  They suck (mostly) and make everything super hard.  For security, we didn't have to take off our jackets or our shoes; all we had to do was empty our pockets and but our backpack through the scanner machine-doodlybop.  Once we were one the plane things got weird.  The things that we (Brazilians and Americans) were doing would have gotten us kicked off/yelled at on an American flight.  We were turning around in our seats, talking to each other across the aisle and taking pictures the entire flight.  We even got a complementary ham and cheese sandwich (at least $5 on a US flight)!!!

That is all for now as it is 11 O'clock and I am going to sleep.  By (tchau)!!!

ERIC

PS.  I love frogs.  They are awesome and cool and there are so many of them here in the Pantanal.

PPS.  Ostriches don't fly.  I hope you laughed at my attempted (awful) humor.

Pedra Bonita

Today we went for a hike. I think many many people do not hike as much or as far as Community School students. As Sophia said, "Hike? This is a walk!". (We thought about you, Rob Landis!) But it was a beautiful walk!! We walked through what felt like real jungle, and emerged on top of Rio de Janeiro! Here we are at the top of Pedra Bonita.

In all directions were amazing views of the sprawling city, and this is only one of them.  Here you can see the swank neighborhood of São Conrado. Just to the left of it, on the back side of the mountain right on the coast, is Rocinho, the biggest favela in all of Rio. Did we mention anything about contrasts...?


- Chauncy

Dance!

Hey everyone! I know that Eric talked about yesterday, the beach, the graffiti, and the dancing but I just wanted to talk about my evening. Last night, Isobel, Camille, and I went to a capoeira class. Capoeira, as Melina explained to me, is a "dance fight". It is hard to explain but there are certain moves that you make to "hit"/"attack" someone else and moves that you make to defend yourself. We ended the capoeira class with a calming session. The leader of the class played music and sang, and we all relaxed. It was fun!
When we walked over to the restaurant, many people were setting up for open mic night. We all got ready and then went to listen. People sang, played the guitar, and danced. They set up a screen and projected a Wii dance game onto it. Everyone clustered and followed the moves of the Wii character in front of us. It was so much fun! Then, Camille, Morgan, Isobel, Sophia, a girl from Riverstone, and I got up on stage and sang "Friday". It was kind of embarrassing but we had so much fun! Everyone enjoyed it, and it made us all laugh!
It is about 1:30 here and everyone is at lunch. We just got back from a hike to Pedra Bonita (beautiful rock). The hike was a good workout, and when we got to the top we had a spectacular view of Rio. It was beautiful! This afternoon (around 4) we are going to the soccer game. It should be fun! Tchau!

Sophia and I after painting graffiti on the wall.

 Judas graffitiing

 The completed wall

 Escola SESC

I'm sorry. My camera isn't loading my pictures correctly from the hike today so these are all that I could upload. I'm sure that someone else will post more pictures.

 Graffiti

Meredith

Dance Party!

Hey everyone! I wrote this last night and tried to post it, but it didn’t work because the Internet shuts down after a certain time. Here it is:

Oi! I'm sorry. This post is about yesterday, so the order of the posts might get a little mixed! Yesterday was wonderful! As Camille and I talked about in our previous post, we went into downtown Rio. When we walked down the street from the cathedral and to the older area of downtown, we saw so many different aspects of the culture. Everyone was so friendly. At one point on the walk from the cathedral to the older downtown we heard noises coming from inside of a building right off of the sidewalk. When we walked past we saw a church service going on...right in the middle of the city! The doors were open and, not wanting to be rude, I  took a quick snapshot and continued on. It was so hard; I wanted to take pictures of everything but I didn't want to be "that kid", stop in the middle of the bustling traffic, or be rude. 

Another astonishing sight came up on our right and Sophia and I HAD to stop and take a picture. Two cathedrals were right in the middle of tall buildings. As Geraldo explained, the city is amazing because it blends the old and the new. We headed to a small side street and walked through cafes and restaurants. Then, we went to another museum (Casa França-Brasil) and saw a few very interesting pieces. One, the first, didn't seem like artwork. It looked like the author set up canvases to line the hallway. The tour guide asked us to guess what the pieces were and notice the differences between the "canvases". We came up with a few obvious remarks (the ones on the left are smaller than the ones on the right, there is a small hole here, etc.). Then, the guide told us that they were sheets. The ones on the left were from a hospital with cancer patients. The ones on the right were from a motel. It was then that I saw more contrasts. 

All of the pieces from this artist were so different but so interesting! The next piece was of five photographs. They were place on the ground of the artist's studio for people to walk on, touch, or do whatever with. The final results were each so different. The last piece was of bricks. The bricks looked the same but they each had specks of color. We found out that they were created from bits of paper from brochures. This, yet again, made each piece special. I thought it was amazing that this artist could take something like bed sheets and make it into art!

It was also so amazing that everyone is so friendly everywhere. At the school, each student is so welcoming and friendly. I found that even in downtown, the people were also so great! At Casa França-Brasil, Morgan sat down on the bottom of one of the columns in the museum because we were waiting for Geraldo. The guards told her not to sit there (in a friendly tone), and Morgan attempted to tell him "Excuse me". The guard didn't quite understand her but he smiled anyway. He then asked another worker at the museum what Morgan was trying to tell him and helped Morgan to say it correctly. This, in my opinion, was a good representation of the people in general. Even the security guards, as I found out at the museum, were friendly when usually they are serious. Everyone is so happy and great!

Next, we visited a monastery. It was so beautifully designed and was absolutely stunning! There is a school up on the hill with the monastery. According to Geraldo (and the other SESC students), the school is very expensive but very good. It is an all boys school. Geraldo said this is illegal to not allow girls at the school, but they pay a big fine because of it. The boys were so cute! One of the little boys called, "Oi bonitas!" to us when we got off of the bus, trying to get our attention...and he did! The boys posed for several pictures and enjoyed all of the photos that we were taking of them.We went back to school and talked to all of our Brazilian friends and hung out. 

We are each in different rooms, and some of us are in different buildings. In my building I am on the third floor, and Sophia is on the second floor. We have to be in the building by 8:30 on school nights, so last night we (everyone in the building) were hanging out in the hang-out area on the bottom floor of the building. All of the girls were gathered and were listening to music. Sophia and I walked into the room, and the girls all welcomed us with a big, "Oi!". They laughed when we spoke (or tried to speak) to them in Portuguese. They enjoyed our company, and soon, we were dancing and singing along with them. They wanted us to show them how to dance, so Sophia and I showed them the "American way" (jumping up and down while singing/yelling). We sang Kesha and jumped. It turns out that they weren't impressed with our dancing and were laughing at us. We all had fun nonetheless! One of the girls came up to Sophia and I and said, "My friend and I want to teach you to dance well". We thought that this was really funny! Melina, my host sister, told me later, "You understand the jumping thing, right?"...it turns out that that's all we do when we dance!. Later, Sophia left, and I stayed downstairs with the girls. They taught me the "Brazilian way" of dancing, and we all talked. I was amazed at how well each of the girls spoke English. The girls knew my name at the end of the night and they each gave me and hug and wished me a good night. They were so great and they made me feel so welcome! 

The dance party was the perfect ending to a great day! I am so thankful that I get to spend these two great weeks in Brazil with all of these wonderful people! Boa noite!

 Below is the picture that I got of the church service downtown.

 This is a picture from the monastery. (below)

 Below is a picture of one of the designs in the monastery. It was at the front of the building (facing outside).

 These are two of the cute boys at the all boys school near the monastery.

Meredith

Pictures of today...we did a lot of different things!

(all of this happened BEFORE the dance party Eric so fondly recounts...and we skipped the Capoeira adventure - more to come on that tomorrow! - Chauncy)


The beach - pretty deserted at 9am!

 But we're going swimming anyway!

 and sunbathing

 after lunch, a little music and singing at school

 ready to do some graffiti! (the good kind)

 artists

 blank canvas

 here we go!

 I know, I know...it's just CS now!

 This is a physics thing - can someone tell Paul Hartl to look at this???

 obrigada, Meredith!

 brazil usa!

 nice, Eric!

 candid of Isobel

 entrance to school

 almost done!
















voilà! a cutthroat swimming in Rio!

Is dancing fun?

NO.  It's not as fun as it sounds (that part that most people call 'dancing').  Other than that, it's a lot of fun.  But more on that later.  Today we went to the beach and swam and ate coconuts and saw a snake and lots of other fun stuff.  The waves were huge and even huger than huge (is that possible??  I think not).  We got back and did GRAFFITI.  Only it wasn't bad graffiti.  It was good graffiti.  There is a different word for good and bad graffiti in portuguese but I don't remember what they are. I'm having enough trouble remembering the names of everyone.  So many people come up and introduce themselves to me that I can't remember who's who.  I'm getting them straight though (maybe).  But anyways, the graffiti was awesome and someone (maybe me) will post pictures of what it looked like.  I have my camera but I am here lying in bed and don't want to get up and upload the pictures of it.  But it was awesome.  Someone drew a dinosaur and named it Lollipop (at least that was what was written next to it).

We then returned to school and had a snack and everyone dispersed and did their separate things as there weren't any planned activities for the day.  I chatted with people (in portuguese, of course!!).  It was quite fun and I learned lots of fun things.  Did you guys know that I don't have cabelo ondulado? Neither did I!! People here are very amazed that I can speak portuguese.  Every time I meet someone new someone else tells them that I can speak portuguese and they are super amazed (and then they start speaking as fast as they can, assuming that I am the "superman of understand portuguese").  I'm not.  Then we had dinner.  The food here is soooooooo good.  I could eat for hours and hours if I didn't get full (what a shame).  There are so many delicious fruits that I have eaten nothing but fruit for breakfast since I got here.  It's been so amazingly marvelicious (marvelous and delicious, my favorite made-up word for describing food).

Then the dancing.  It actually wasn't really dancing.  It was more of an open-mic night.  Anyone could get up and sing or do something (it was all singing).  Meredith, Isobel, Camille, Sophia, and Morgan and Katherine (a girl from Riverstone) got up and sang Friday (Rebecca Black, horrible song).  They tried to convince me to got up with them but I sat down so hard (inside joke) that they gave up.  I then got it all on video (Meredith couldn't say all that she would do to me if that got out).  But then the night was full of people trying to convince me to dance like they saw in the walking tour of Ketchum that we made (don't worry, I didn't give in to peer-pressure).  But all the same, it was and awesome night.  I actually would write this entire post in portuguese if I didn't think that no one but the Brazilians who were reading it would understand it.  But I must end as I am tired and we are going hiking tomorrow and then going to watch a soccer game.  It will be fun.  Boa noite!!!

ERIC

PS.  Blame all grammar mistakes on someone other than me.  I don't like being blamed.  However, if it is perfect I will take all the credit.

Hey Everyone! Today, we were supposed to go to the Botanical Gardens but we woke up to rain so we skipped it. We went to the Rio city center instead. As we drove along the freeway, we were scared for our lives in the crazy city traffic as motorcyclists drove between honking buses. Luckily, we had a very experienced city bus driver escorting us. Like in any city, the morning rush hour was busy. We saw much of Rio as we drove toward our destination. It is amazing how different it is from our cities! The contrast between the wealthier areas of town and the poorer neighborhoods was astonishing. As we drove, we not only saw the usual tags of graffiti artist, but beautiful creations lining the city walls. 

Our first stop was an art exhibit at a museum in downtown Rio. Their exhibition was called "Oneness". We were shocked when we walked in to see a giant, white and blue, futuristic pod in the entry room. The exhibit was focused on aliens and was very interesting. The pieces of art promoted the connection between people. We walked upstairs and found an interactive piece where six aliens were positioned in a circle. As part of the interaction, we knelt next to the aliens and placed our hands on their hearts. We soon could feel a beating, and they lit up when all six people touched the heart. It was designed to create "oneness" in the group. It was a little bit strange but interesting nonetheless. We then walked through a beautifully adorned cathedral. It created yet another stark contrast; this time between old and new. The cathedral was situated in the middle of bustling traffic, surrounded by tall buildings. 

We walked from the bustling streets to a smaller, older side street from the original downtown Rio. There were a few small cafés, restaurants, and shops.  It was good to, yet again, see the contrast in the city. We returned to school and were greeted by smiling, enthusiastic Brazilians! They are all so happy and welcoming! Tomorrow we are going to the beach, and we are sure that it will be another wonderful experience!

Meredith and Camille