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