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Ahh!! So it has been a while... but it is still May and the last time I updated was in May. So I think this is good. haha. Let us dive in together into my most recent adventures.
Friday, May 7
I started working out with Keri. We went jogging at a local park and then we did a DVD workout with the lady from Biggest Loser. We started a routine to workout Wednesdays and Fridays. It was a really great idea.
Later in the evening, I went to Palldium, the newest and biggest shopping mall in Curitiba, to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D IMAX with my friends Ruth, Pedro, Marina, and Marina's boyfriend Ricardo. The mall was incredible and the movie setup was really awesome as well. The theatre inside the mall had sweet popcorn as well as buttered/salted, and you could get both together. It was beautiful. It was not kettle corn, it was like popcorn with caramel on it or something. Anyhow, the theater was laid out nicely and the film was enjoyable. It was in English with Portuguese subtitles. It was funny to see the words they used to try to explain the strange words used in the movie. haha. I had never seen a film in 3D IMAX before, so it was really cool. I prefer watching movies in normal form though. It is definitely cheaper and does not induce headaches.
Saturday, May 8
I met up with my American friend Sarah for brunch and we went to the famous Cafe Xprex that we always went to after my first Portuguese class. We split an omelet, french bread with melted mozzarella cheese, and a raspberry cheesecake. We also had two cappuccinos a piece. It was quite funny because we were about to go to this brunch buffet, but it was going to cost like R$19 and that was just too expensive... we ended up spending $R20 at Cafe Xprex per person. haha. Too funny. But yes so I feel the need to stop and talk about the omelet for a moment. It was a vegetarian omelet that had carrots inside as well as onions and tomatoes. On top of the omelet was creamy mashed potatoes and peas. I am not kidding. It was actually quite good. Less of a breakfast food and more of a lunch meal though in my opinion because of this setup. Anyhow, I had an amazing time eating and talking with Sarah.
After brunch, I met up with my friend Marina, Ricardo, and Ricardo's brother and sister. We went out to Quatro Barras to go to a churrasco, which is a BBQ/get together. It was really cool because it was like a summer camp place. A family friend/church friend owns the place and they frequently have meals there. It was a really great time. I played Monopoly and did horribly. I forgot how ridiculously long that game is. I played the board game, which was in Brazilian format with Portuguese words and places in the big cities of Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, and I played the card version. Did you know they had Monopoly in a card version? It is amazing and much quicker. I am assuming they have in the states, but I have actually never heard or seen of this until I got here to Brazil. I will definitely have to find it when I get home. Anyhow, after this we had a really nice meal for dinner. Lots of different meats, which is very important for a churrasco... the main point actually. It was also interesting too because they had cooked this pinhoes, which are seeds from the famous Curitibano tree pinheiro-brasileiro. You are supposed to cook/roast the seeds and then eat them. I had tried them before at the church retreat because we had found some. I have to be honest and say I am not a big fan. The texture reminds me of wax... and the flavor is nutty but I prefer peanuts or pecans. haha But it is very popular to roast this nuts here in Curitiba and in the state of Parana. It is funny because the nuts are actually part of a pine cone on the pineheiro-brasileiro tree. Besides the food, it was really cool because I got to meet a Swiss guy. He is doing volunteer work in Sao Paulo with children in the favelas, the slums. And it was really cool talking with him. We spoke in English and it was a little hard to understand him. The accent is very interesting. Oh! And I found out that in school Swiss children learned German, English, and French. Depending on what area of Switzerland they live, they may speak more German than French or the opposite. But it is interesting because if German people speak to the Swiss, they can understand them. However, if the Swiss speak in German to the German, the German can hardly understand them, again because of the accent. Quite interesting I thought... Also at the Churrasco we played Mafia, which was really cool because I did not know this existed outside of the states. I had not heard of this game until college actually. It was interesting playing in Portuguese... definitely not easy for me, but still very enjoyable. Overall, I had a really great time.
Sunday, May 9
I woke up fairly early and went to the Feira Livre/Feira Hippy (Haha Hippy Market) with Nick and his Brazilian roommate from Rondonia, which is a NW state of Brasil near the Amazon area. I have gone two times before to the market, but this time I actually bought a few things. I bought a candle and a necklace. Also, we bought Mexican food made by real Mexicans which was nice. Later in the day I had church and we learned more about Revelations, which of course was really awesome and very interesting. We discussed and learned about Revelations 19-20
Monday - Thursday, May 10 - 13
Monday: I went to the orphanage with Keri and it was a great time. We started doing worksheets with the girls like word searches and matching pictures to words.
Tuesday: I had a Simulation test and it was really hard. Only 6 out 25 or so people actually passed this test.. I was not one of the 6. Thankfully, though we are supposed to be having 2 more tests in the class and the best 2 will be our grade.
Wednesday: I worked out with Keri, went to the grocery store, did laundry,and tried to cancel my cell phone for when I leave Brasil. The last activity was unsuccessful and had to be done another day.
Thursday: I went to the pharmacy because I had been sick the past couple days with cold like symptoms. It was quite an experience. I went and talked with the pharmacist and told him what was going on. He proceeded in giving me amoxicellin, decongestant pills, and vitamin c tablets. My total bill was like R$75, which is like around $40. Yes, amoxicelin without a prescription... this is normal in Brazil. You only really need prescriptions for serious things... like legit sleeping pills and things like vicotin. Many people do not like to go to the doctors here and they do have health care. I am not exactly sure why this is... so people in turn just go to the pharmacy and thats it. I mean if you can easily get antibiotics why waste the time going to the doctors... cut out the middle man and go straight to the resource. haha. But yes after the pharmacy I met my classmate Cleverson and we went to a factory!!! It was awesome. Probably one of my favorite things I have done here in Brazil. The factory was for the company Nilko, which mainly produces electric heaters, lockers, and computer casings. It was so awesome to see the whole process for the computer casings. I saw where the raw material came in and was stored all the way to where the assembled computer cases are packaged and stored in inventory and then sent to the clients of Nilko, which are companies like Dell, Postivo (brasil), etc. Nilko only does the mechanical aspect of the computer cases, not the electrical components. It was just so awesome though to see things I had learned about in class in action. Really really awesome. Cleverson's brother is a manager for the company and gave us a tour as well as lots of good information about the company as well as the processes and systems at work. He went back and forth between speaking English and Portuguese. Really awesome. The reason Cleverson and I went to the factory was for our facilities project, one of my ISE classes. Again, just really great experience.
Friday, May 14
I worked out with Keri and then got Mexican with Keri, Nick, and Carlos for lunch. It was really awesome because the weekend before we had eaten Mexican food and the Feira livre and it had been from this Mexican restaurant. The food there was really good and it was buffet livre, which means buffet style. Sadly though, still no tortilla chips, but there were enchiladas, Mexican rice, and rolled cheese quisadillas.
Saturday, May 15
I went out Saturday night with Ruth and the people I had met at the Sushi lunch. I had a really great time. We danced to unpopular 80s dance music. haha I just use the word unpopular because I was unfamiliar with it. There were some songs I knew, but a lot that I didn't and they were American...I am assuming they were American because of the English, but now thinking about it I guess they could have been British or something...who knows. Anyhow, it was a really good time and I met some new people in the group of graphic design students. Also, I was able to try this dark draft beer that I do not remember the name, but it had coffee in it.... It was soooo good though. It may not sound good, but it was. And the bartender said it was a good combination because the way the dark beer is made gives it almost a roasted taste or something along these lines, so the coffee compliments it. I am curious to find out if they have this in the states...
Sunday, May 16
I went to church and I invited my friend Pedro from one of my classes. We had taco night, so I thought it would be nice to invite a friend. We did a lot of worship this service and then went over Revelations 21, which talks about the new earth and new heaven that will be when the devil is put away forever and God joins all His followers. It was really cool because I found out at church that Pedro is agnostic, so hopefully God used me to plant a seed or something. Pedro seemed to enjoy it. I am sure it was quite an experience and hopefully it made a difference for him. Oh, and after the service taco night was very successful and delicious.
Monday - Thursday, May 17 - 20
Monday: Keri and I went to the orphanage and continued doing fun worksheets with the girls. Then, I had dinner at Keri's. We had Raumen noodles and chicken nuggets. Haha Very Brazilian.
Tuesday: I went out for pizza with Tatiana, Roman, and some of Tatiana's friends. I tried this hot wine drink... and it was not very good. Apparently it was the restaurant though that just did not make a good one. So, I got hot chocolate instead and it was wonderful.
Wednesday: I worked out with Keri and did not have Logistics class because my professor cancelled it due to him traveling.
Thursday: I had my Facilities test that I probably spent 24 hours studying for total. It was quite a process, but definitely worth it because I got a 95. :)
Friday, May 21
I worked out with Keri, had lunch with Nick and went to the Municipal Market with him. That place is so cool. Next time I go I will bring my camera because it is so awesome to see the layout as well as all the exotic fruits and such. I bought fruit loops this day for my trip to Foz do Iguacu, Iguacu Falls. At 930PM I left for Iguacu Falls on a small charter bus with 21 other people. I sat next to a Moroccan guy which was really cool. He knows like 5 languages: French, Arabic, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Insane.
Saturday, May 22
We arrived around 8am and then went into Paraguay. This was quite an interesting experience. So... to get to into Paraguay. You walk across this bridge or drive and if you walk and you are Brazilian, you show your Brazilian ID card and walk right on through. If you walk and are not Brazilian, you have to show your passport and get some paperwork. Your passport gets stamped saying you are leaving the country and then you walk right on into Paraguay. Paraguay.... well. Just to give you an idea, one of the girls on the trip said "Oh, this must be what hell is like." It was really dirty, crowded, and just unpleasant. The tour leader said that Paraguay is like there for Brazilians to do cheap shopping. Many Brazilians go there to buy electronics, shoes, jewelry, perfume etc... and it is American stuff. American brands and all the prices are for the American dollar. Everyone said it was super cheap, but I really did not find it cheap. For example, Abercrombie & Fitch men's zip up hoodie thing, $140. Ralph Lauren perfume, $50. Sadly, though for Brazilians many of these prices, especially for electronics, are good because things in Brazil are ridiculously expensive because the government puts intense and outrageous taxes on everything, especially imported products. And the catch... the taxes are already included in the prices. So, is there anyway to know what percentage of taxes there are? Not really.... unless you are the government. So, yes needless to say I did not buy anything. I was just really overwhelmed and not in the mood to buy anything. Some people from the group, though, bought, shoes, watches, satellite dish with box, camera, and video camera. Oh! And leaving Paraguay and coming back into Brazil... no one there to check you in. If you bought stuff over a certain value, then you were supposed to go into this line and have paperwork or something. Was there anyone to check that you did this correctly? Not really... no. There are many problems with this setup obviously, but a significant problem is that because of the lack of people checking in, I was not stamped back into Brazil...Based on my passport, I am still in Paraguay which could be a potential problem. Luckily, the advisor from the Brazilian study abroad office is looking into this for me and the other exchange students to see what we need to do to not run into problems when we try to leave the country. Yes, so after the Paraguay extravaganza the group went to the famous bird park of Foz. I thought it was really cool. I really enjoyed taking pictures of the animals and nature. They had some really beautiful birds. I really enjoyed the exhibit with the butterflies and hummingbirds.
After the Bird Park, we went to the Iguacu Waterfalls. They were incredible.... and my pictures do not do them justice. It was just so amazing walking down this trail to get to one of the waterfalls. People were able to walk out on this walkways and get soaked by water coming off the falls. It was just so so so awesome, the views, landscape, and just everything. Amazing. The picture for this blog is from the waterfalls of Foz.
Sunday, May 23
The group went to Itaipu, which was absolutely incredible on the opposite side of the spectrum with the waterfalls. The waterfalls are naturally made and Itaipu is a man made dam and power plant among other activities and scenery. The immense size of the dam and the power plant.... just wow. I was so in shock and awe. Engineers created this and designed this structure. It was unbelievable that people had made this structure. Really awesome. It was really cool being able to go inside the power plant and see the transformers and a turbine. It was also really cool learning about the process and the fact that the power generated at this plant is not even used by the city of Foz do Iguacu... it is transferred to be used by Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. Crazy. Also at Itaipu, we were went to a planetarium and nature/animal walk. Sadly, the battery of my camera died while we were at the power plant, so I was not able to take pictures of the animals and trails. Overall, this was an amazing weekend and even though the bus ride was not at all comfortable or enjoyable, it was still definitely worth it.
Monday - Thursday, May 24- 27
Monday: 3am... I arrive back in Curitiba. 8am... I should be in class, but I was asleep cozily in bed. I was able to go to the orphanage with Keri and the girls we normally worked with were not able to meet with us, so we got the younger girls like we had the first time we went.... it was not as much fun, but it was still worthwhile spending time with them and playing game and coloring. For dinner, Nick and I met my Virginia Tech study abroad advisor, VT study abroad program leader, and a college of engineering study abroad personnel as well as the study abroad advisor from PUC (Brazilian university). We ate at a restaurant called Saanga Grill and it was a really great time. The VT people came to Brazil to check on how the program is going as well as the schools' engineering programs. It was so great to see some familiar faces and be able to talk about my experience and thoughts so far. And of course the food was great too.
Tuesday: I had no clothes... nor food, so I had to get some intense laundry and grocery shopping done. Then, I met the VT people at PUC and went to the presentation on the ISE department at VT. Oh how I miss VT. It was really great to be reminded of VT and ISE and it was also great because I was able to meet the Brazilian student who is coming to VT to study in the fall. He is from Chile, but has been living in Brazil for a long time now. He speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish. I hope he has a really great time and it will be nice to practice some Portuguese next semester.
Wednesday: I met with Cleverson to work on our facilities project, worked out with Keri, and got lunch with Nick at this really cheap buffet styled restaurant. It was around R$5 for a plate full of food and a drink... that is like $3 for decent a decent amount of food. Very nice.
Thursday: I met with Cleverson to work on our project and we were able to finish.It was due the same day, so that is good. It was interesting because people were still working on their projects while a group was presenting in class... definitely a different education system.
Friday, May 28
I went to Bariguii Park, my favorite park, with Nick. We saw the little squirrel monkeys and walked like 7 miles. If you ask Nick, he will say we walked like 3 or 4. haha. After we met up with Keri and Carlos for dinner at Schwarma's, the really awesome middle easter food place. After dinner we had some dessert and played spades. Nick and I dominated...if we had not won I am not sure what I would have done. haha. They all joke that I am intense at cards... I do not think I am that intense. I just like to win.. and I am a little on the competitive side. After our game we went and watched a play our friend Sarah was in. It was called Grave Matters and it was a comedy about the death of a wealthy women and how her family is dealing with it after in regards to her will. It was so awesome to see Sarah acting. She did a really great job. It was interesting watching the other people who were Brazilian speaking English and playing their roles. I am sure it was not easy if you are not a native speaker. Overall, a great day.
Saturday, May 29
I had lunch with my friend Pedro at a different Mexican restaurant called Mexicano. It serves all you can eat faijitas that you make yourself. We both ate way too much. I tried some Brazilian lemonade. It was pretty good, but not the same as American lemonade. It is also interesting because they call it Swiss lemonade. So maybe in Switzerland the lemonade tastes like this. After lunch we walked around trying to walk off the sick wanting to throw up feeling. We went to the mall nearby and looked at the museum there about the old train station that the mall used to be. Pretty cool. Later that night I went out with Ruth and graphic design students/friends to a bar called Bardo Tatara. It was funny because Ruth said we were going out dancing. We were the first to get to the place and the dance floor was like a 4x4 space that just happened to not have chairs or tables. haha It was still really fun though. There was a guy singing and playing acoustic guitar live. He sand some American songs which was nice. Reminded me of home. We still danced even though there really was not room. I had a great time and I tried a caipirinha with Rum, condensed milk, and maracuja (passionfruit). It was really nice.
Sunday, May 30
I went to church and it was really really good. We did an overview of the old testament... like a complete overview going over all of the books and just talking about the main theme of each and such. Also, it was really cool because Pastor John talked about why the old testament is important to the Christian faith. I was not exactly sure why it was, but now I know. I am so glad I went to this service because it was super informative and it sparked my interest to keep reading the old testament. I have planned to read the bible all the way through starting with Genesis and I started 1 Samuel that night.
Monday, May 31 (TODAY!!!!)
I had class and we got out early. We do not have this class next week because the teacher is going to cancun, then the week after we have our last test. Then, the week after that we will review the answers to test 3 and go over any doubts or questions we have. Then, the week after that, Jun 28, we have an optional fourth test, the final. I am hoping I do well enough on the 3rd test that I do not have to worry about the final. That would be awesome. We will see. So, yes I had class. Then, went with my friend Pedro to buy bus tickets for Rio!!!!!!!! I am going to Rio again. Very excited for warm weather and beach time. I am planning on leaving Wed night and then getting back to Curitiba Monday morning. We are going with Ruth and staying at her apartment again. Also, we are planning a one day trip to Buzios which is a beautiful beach city outside of Rio.
After we bought our bus tickets, I walked to the mall and just walked around for a while. Then, went and got some lunch. I met up with Keri and we went to the Federal Police department because we needed to pick up the hard copies of our foreigner identity cards. After this we went to the orphanage and did the English worksheets with the girls and were able to listen to two American songs with the girls and they filled out two worksheets based on the songs and the lyrics. I am not sure the girls enjoyed them as much as I had anticipated. After the orphanage, Keri and I went to the mall and got a smoothie and these really yummy sweet mixed nuts. Very good. And that was my day.
Update complete! I only have less than 5 weeks and then I should be home back in the states!! I am so excited. I have enjoyed Brazil so far and I am so glad I had this opportunity, but there really is no place like home.
Thanks for reading!!! Ate mais!! Until next time!
Ashley
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