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!
Meredith
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