one month.

So. I've finally started to blog! I know it's been a while, and it's funny that I've blogged exactly one month since I left Pearson airport at 11:30pm for my flight. Alot of things happened since I left Canada for Brasil. And I know it's unfair to summarize my experience thus far in the bullets below, but if you want to know more you know you can always skype me :)


So, since I've been in Brasil for one month:

• I've been fed feijoada on my first day, which is a black stew consisting of every part of the pig. Nope, that soft part you just chewed was not meat..
• I spoke Japanese on my second day in Brasil.
• I tasted açai in full intensity (no powder version from Booster Juice) for 2 freaking reais. That's a buck fifty for a full cup of goodness!
• I saw my first Rodeo.
• And at the same "Rodeio", I saw my first Brazilian concert of the apparently ultra-popular axé singer, Ivete Sangalo.
• Culture shock 1: Brazilian party scene. Ficar galore! (Ficar in literal translations: random make-out with no strings attached. Meaning you kiss passionately for an hour, then say goodbye immediately afterwards!)
• I spent my first weekend in Brasil visiting 6 cities/towns.
• I took the bus by myself at night to the university armed with a lonely planet phrasebook, some hastily written "useful phrases to say to the bus driver", and a badly drawn map. I got there flustered, and a bit sweaty, but I was satisfied. :)
• I realised that toilet paper is not meant to be flushed. And explaining the "science" of why it shouldn't be flushed is always fun.
• Staying at a friend's family home almost always means free accomodation and most likely free food. The remedy to global poverty!
• On that point, I've seen favelas, favelas, favelas, and favelas.
• I've seen novelas. Nothing but overdramatic storylines with stupidly beautiful people.
• I went to my first AIESEC conference as a delegate since my very first in Winnipeg - CONADE 2007.
• Culture shock 2: time - in gross exaggeration - is absolutely MEANINGLESS when we ended the first day of the conference at 1:00am, with externals and dinner plates on our laps.
• I discovered funkie. Pa Para-para-para, pa-para-para-para!
• At CONADE, I got in contact with people from all over Brasil as well as Colombia, Mexico, Romania, Costa Rica, India, United States, France, Spain, Austria, Uruguay, Australia, and the Netherlands.
• Canada represented very well at CONADE with Manry (Windsor), Duncan (Carleton), Marc (Laval), Melissa (Edmonton), Araz and I present.
• In addition, Canada made history at CONADE by introducing a roll call that EVERYONE loved - the IC 06/WRC Faci roll call! Nanananana
• I visited Sao Paulo, and didn't get shot in spite of wandering around with a group of other camera-clad gringos.
• I had Brazilian BBQ - churrasco.
• At the same churrasco, I had nothing but alcohol and meat for 12 hours. MMM
• I donned a miniskirt and a black tube top for Festa do Contrário (Opposite Party), the biggest university party in Campinas.
• On my second day of my CEED (Cultural Envoy for Exchange Development) work, the university where I worked was on strike. I was office-less, computer-less, and not to mention cold, lonely, and frustrated.
• That was also the worst day of my CEED.
• I went to Itú, near Campinas, and saw things that really explain why Itú is the land of big things: big chairs, big traffic lights, big telephone stands, big scissors, big condoms...you name it! But not big people.
• My Portugues still sucks. Meu portugues está muito ruim :(
• I've typed on 3 different types of keyboards: a French keyboard, a US keyboard, and a Portuguese keyboard.
• I've learned to appreciate accents (eg. "é"). Makes words look more beautiful.
• I tried so many different fruits. This will be covered in my "Fruit of the Week" entries!
• I cooked my first Brazilian meal the second week I was in Campinas. Mmm, strogonoffe.
• --actually, it's strogonoffe with expired creme. Welcome to la vida do estudante!
• I decided to take up exercising! Woot, I'm finally getting back at it! Except, the gym is an "academy", and an instructor is omnipresent, watching over you while telling you to do things in an alien language and gesturing maniacally.

Oh, and I went to Rio last weekend. :) That deserves a separate blog entry with plenty of visual eye candy!

I'll probably add more to the list above as I remember more moments. But I'm glad I can finally start anew! Each passing week, I was torn about whether or not I should write about the past while even more exciting things were happening. So although this definitely does not do justice to many of you, I hope it can give you an idea of what I had experienced (in one month! I cannot believe it!) while I have been here in Brasil.

So far, I've been having an intense life experience. And it's not just because of all the partying and such, but it's about living in another world totally different from what you are used to.

At the beginning, living in another culture is akin to being stripped naked and tossed on to the streets.

You have no choice but to be dependent on others for life's necessities, face times of chronic frustration, struggle against culture shock, and value every ounce of kindness from the strangers who try to adopt you into their social circles -this is what it has been for me while I've been in Brasil. Every moment you live is intense in ways that are so great and also so painful. This is what I love.

Welcome to my life.