Happy Birthday Sao Paulo!

Today is the aniversario of the largest city in South America, which makes me happy because I don't have to get up and go to class today. Happy birthday Sao Paulo! I'm not sure exactly how you determine the birthday of a city, but can you really have enough birthdays in your life? We need to carry this tradition over to the US.

Another eventful week in the SP. Since my last post, I've gotten a chance to visit the farmer's market that is held every Tuesday near PUC. It's called o dia de feria, which literally means "day of the fair." On "the day of the fair," produce vendors set up their tents along the street to sell fresh fruits, vegetables and other goods. It reminds me a little of the Auburn Free Fall Fair except the food is much healthier and only a handful of vendors give off that creepy carnie vibe.

The fruit selection is excellent - fresh pineapple, mangoes, papayas, bananas, you name it. There are some fruits I've never even heard of. You can also buy all kinds of juices including coconut juice and this kind of sugar cane concoction. (I tasted both and decided they would only be appealing if I was one of the survivors on Lost.)

As I learned the hard way, prices are negociable at the market, and vendors will try to squeeze every last penny out of you - especially if you are an American. I decided to buy four plums and three nectarines last Tuesday. The vendor was generous, offering me several sample slices of his produce. He practically forced a couple of cherries down my throat. "That's it," I told him pointing to the bag of plums and nectarines.

"Vinte reais," he said. That's over $1o, and I automatically peaked into my wallet to pay the man! Luckily, I wasn't carrying much money, and when I said I didn't have 20 reais he quickly took the 15 that I did. He probably would have taken 10 or less if I had had the sense to barter. Next time, I'm going in with a game plan.

I continue to be horrified by the way people drive around here. Last week, I was walking across the street between lanes of traffic when a motoboy nearly put me on the pavement. Call me old-fashioned, but I'm new to the concept of traffic between traffic. Here in the SP, I'm quickly learning to look both ways before you look both ways.

On another recent morning, I was lying in bed when the squeal of tires and a loud crash could be heard from my bedroom on the eighteenth floor. The only thought that came to my mind before readjusting the pillow? I told you so.

On Saturday, I took a day trip with a few friends to the beaches of Guaraja. It's about an hour and a half bus ride from Sao Paulo. The ride to the coast cuts through some really mountainous and beautiful terrain. It felt really good to get reacquainted with trees again. Unfortunately, it rained nearly the entire time drive up to Guaraja, and it was still raining when we were dropped off. By the time we reached the beach, however, the rain had begun to subside, and it was pleasant weather for the most part the rest of the day. We camped out under a parasol on the beach and relaxed.

There were some really gnarly waves a few yards out from the shore that made the water fun and refreshing. Several beach-goers rode the waves on body boards and there were a few surfers. Many of these waves passed over my head, so you know they had to decent swells. Even in the overcast weather, I manages to get a slight sunburn in a few spots that I failed to cover with sunscreen. Oh well, I'm sure there are more than a few people in Indiana that would take on a little discomfort for a day at the beach in January.

I also attended my first Brazilian professional soccer match last weekend. The off and on rain showers definitely put a damper on the experience, but I think my expectations were a little unrealistic going into it. If you would like to read more about this experience, I wrote in-depth about it for the Indiana Daily Student.

What I really would like to do is attend an intercity rivalry game in Sao Paulo. They are uber-intense. Today, one American student had to be escorted by security guards on the metro to avoid getting the snot beat out of him because he was wearing the wrong team's soccer jersey at the wrong time in the wrong place. He was very lucky to make it home unscathed.

Due to an unexpected development, I have to seek another place to live for the rest of my time in Brazil. My two former roommates Paulo and Fabio had to take in Fabio's mother, who is recovering from kidney stones, on short notice. Currently, I am living in a castle-like house on top of a hill with a family of three and another American student.

My host dad is a professor that houses international students on the side. I think I'm like student number 23 in the record book. There are at least four rooms set aside to house guests in this fort, and it's run as smoothly as a bed and breakfast. The cold stone floors, steep winding stairs and granite chandeliers are actually growing on me. The moat and draw bridge surrounding the house seems a little much though. (That was a joke.)

Yesterday, we took a gander at the Portuguese Language Museum, which was constructed in a renovated train station. It was actually an interesting experience, but our group didn't have nearly enough time to explore. Portuguese is a continually evolving language much like English with influences from many different cultures. It is obvious that even though many Brazilians learn English, they are really proud of their native tongue. Language really is a central expression of culture, and no one can truly understand this place until they understand the subtleties Brazilian-Portuguese.

Right now, I'm in the process of planning for Carnaval, which is less than a month away. As of today, I will be taking an 11-hour bus ride south to the coastal city of Florianopolis and possibly making my way to the waterfalls of Iguacu. That would be amazing.

Tomorrow our group is taking a four-day trip to the historic city called Paraty on the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro. Supposedly, there are nice beaches and good hiking trails, so I am really looking forward to this excursion. As always, I will let you know if it lives up to the hype.

Last but not least, I was able to watch parts of the AFC-NFC championship games. Yes, this is the Super Bowl I've been waiting twenty years for. Yes, its ironic that I am half a world away. And yes, I will miss those multimillion dollar commercials. Someone better tape the game for me.

The good, the bad and the ugly

A lot has happened since my last post, which was over a week ago. Internet problems left me without an online outlet all week, so I´ll try to cover all the happenings of the last few days in this post.

Since last Friday, I have undergone the CIEE Orientation at the Ceasar Business Hotel on Avenida Paulista, met a whole slew of students from all over the continental United States (there are over 60 of us total) and began the Intensive Language and Culture Program at Pontifica Universidade Catholica de Sao Paulo (or Poo-Kee as they call it). I´ve also witnessed and participated in more dancing over the last seven days than any week in my whole life. They really do love the samba in Brazil.

For your reading pleasure, I´ve organized the last ten days into three categories. First off:

The Good

Orientation went really well. I felt like my early arrival in Sao Paulo served me well as I already had figured out the general layout of the city as well as how to navigate the metro. The first priority for most of the students was getting a cell phone, of course.

The CIEE staff kept the program moving with sessions on Brazil´s history and racial issues as well as lectures on transportation and safety in Sao Paulo. We all took written and oral placement tests in portuguese to gage our language profeciency and spent our downtime eating good food (the fresh fruit is really good here), draining our money on Internet access, walking up and down Avenida Paulista and exploring the night life.

Several student moniters are part of the CIEE staff, and they organized optional activities for everyone at night. One night I went to a bar/club-type place and got my first taste of Brazilian samba. Another night I went to a movie - Brazilian, of course, although most of the movies here are from Hollywood.

The students in this program come from all over the United States. A large contingent go to school in Washington DC. It seems like many of them are more used to urban life and life abroad than I. They either consider themselves to have grown up in a city or have spent a summer in another country or have studied abroad elsewhere. Some of them grew up in bilingual homes, some of them are part Brazilian or have family in Brazil. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. Over half of the students participating in the ILCP program will be leaving for Bahia at the end of the month, but for now they are here with the Sao Paulo kids (which includes me).

Our first three days of class took place this week at PUC. I have two and a half hours of Portuguese in the morning and an hour and forty-five minutes of Brazilian culture in the afternoon. My language teacher, Fernanda, is very enthusiastic, and the students in my class seem far more comfortable with the language than I. I think this can only help me improve.

This weekend we visited some cultural and historic sites in the city. We also hit up a samba club on Friday night. The live music was impressive and some of the dancers were too. I haven´t quite figured out the footwork yet - unfortunately my high school years in show choir did not quite prepare me for this level of dance - but I can shuffle my feet with the best of them.

This morning I attended mass at the Sao Bento Basilica in historic downtown Sao Paulo. The art and architecture were really amazing and the place was completely full - although many of the people were there more to take pictures than worship. I stood in the back understanding even less than I do on Sunday mornings when the preach speaks my own language. The whole Gregorian chant thing sounded great though.

The coolest thing by far this week was our visit to the Sambodromo last night. Right now, preparation is in full swing for Carnaval which takes place in less than a month. The Sambodromo is the place where the famous parade competition takes place in Sao Paulo. In the parade, the fourteen schools of samba - comprised of thousands of participates for each school - have fifty minutes to pass through the Sambodromo with their jaw-dropping floats and exquisite costumes, singing and dancing the whole way through. Our group crashed one of the practice runs and actually got to participate with Mocidade Algre, one of the samba schools.

Although we didn´t know the words to the song (we carried the lyrics in our hand) or any of the choreography, it was really an awesome experience. Hearing all the people singing in unison and seeing the people above in the stands makes you feel like you are part of something special. And this was just a practice. We moved to the beat in lines and sang to the skies till our throats were sore. By the end of the thing I was dead tired. An hour straight of singing the same song over and over and moving to the beat will really wear you out.

The Bad

Getting to PUC was a real challenge this week. Most of the other students had their host families to physically take them to class the first day or two using public transportation. Since I´m living with a friend, however, I had to figure out how to get their on my own using guide maps and sifting through bus schedules.

The first day of class I was an hour late due to a mix of bad directions and confusion. Luckily, I didn´t miss anything since the first hour of class was spent dividing the large group into smaller classes. I have about a 35 minute commute every morning to PUC which involves taking the metro and then catching a bus. The third day of class, I overslept by an hour due to a faulty alarm clock and had to rush to get to class on time. I actually got their with 15 minutes to spare. Maybe I am getting the hang of this public trasportation thing.

Modern living did not treat me well this week. Not only did the Internet not work here, but the washing machine starts shaking like its possessed if you load more than three pairs of socks in it, forcing me to wash my clothes one article at a time. (I exaggerate, but not greatly.) And I accidently destroyed the glass cover of the kitchen stove when I was trying to heat a pot of water. Glass does not cool gently. I am currently treating all modern appliances like they are active land mines.

Today, we ate lunch at an oriental sushi-type buffet in Liberdade, the japonese neighborhood of Sao Paulo. The food was really good. I tried to avoid most of the raw things, but couldn´t help myself when I saw a tentacle wrapped in seaweed on a block of rice. I mean who can resist? It wasn´t terrible, but octupus doesn´t have much flavor and it´s kind of chewy. I think it would be better as fishing bait.

The Ugly

Riding the metro one morning, a little girl rushed in on one stop, sat right next to me, hunched over and promptly deposited her breakfast on the floor. Luckily, I was in the process of getting up to give her mother a seat and avoided getting spewed on. Sometimes being considerate pays off.

At the Sambodromo, I went in to the restroom and saw several groups of men doing lines of coke in the middle of the place. Drugs are easily accessible in Sao Paulo for those that want them, but it was kind of shocking to see that kind of thing in such a public place. And I wondered how all those old men made it through the parade without collapsing...

And since I like to end these things on a positive note, NFL Radio has saved my life this month. An Indy-Chicago Super Bowl would make me numb.

Baby Steps

This week I learned how to crawl through the city on my own. I even took my first baby steps on the metro. Soon I´ll be running circles round this cidade - atleast that´s the idea.

Getting from point A to point B in Sao Paulo is not the simplest thing in the world. If you don´t have a car, the metro is the easiest and quickest way to get around. If the metro won´t take you where you want to go, then there is always the bus. I haven´t quite figured out the whole bus thing yet. You see, there aren´t any maps that show where the buses actually go. You´re just supposed to know where they go. I´ll save that adventure for next week.

I spent several hours walking around this week just to get a feel for the place and noticed a few things. First of all, nearly every main road has the same type of stores bracketing it. Shoe store, drug store, cafe, auto shop. Shoe store, drug store, cafe, auto shop. Didn´t I just walk down this block?

Secondly, there is no such thing as a straight, flat road in this city. Hiking boots are not out of the question for some of these sidewalks, and if you ever look at a map of Sao Paulo´s roads...well, let´s just say I´ve seen better organized ant farms.

Lastly, it´s a good idea to bring your umbrella because it rains off and on most days. And just so you know, don´t breathe through your nose. Air pollution doesn´t exactly smell like roses.

I feel a bit sorry for the people that try to speak to me on the street and around the apartment - although I´m sure they can tell I´m not from around here. At this point, they might as well be talking to a street lamp. I did, however, pick-up on the vocalizations of a boy that was following me on the street the other day. (He probably wanted something, but I have no idea what.) Something about baquete (i.e. basketball). Now, HE was talking my language.

On Wednesday, I took the metro to Avenida Paulista to catch a glimpse of the hotel I´ll be staying at the next four days as part of orientation. (I posted a picture of the place at the top of this post.) I am definitely looking forward to my stay at the Ceasar Business Hotel. Not only because I´ll finally get to meet some people, but also because I like fancy elevators.

With luck, I´ll be able to catch the Colts radio broadcast on the Internet tomorrow. A 4:30 kickoff in Indy means a 7:30 kickoff in Sao Paulo. My optimism goes as far as Bob Sander´s knee. Tchau.

A ¨Feliz Ano Novo¨

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed those college football games yesterday because I sure would have liked to. Alas, the only football round these parts actually involves using your feet.

As I mentioned in the last post, we decided not to go to Rio for the beginning of 2007 and instead stayed in Sao Paulo, which also boasts one of the largest New Year´s celebrations in the world. New Year´s is a big deal for Brazilians. They like to start the year with lots of singing, dancing and, of course, drinking. Fireworks, too. For nearly two days I could hear fireworks exploding somewhere nearby from my apartment.

An hour and a half before midnight on Sunday, we took the metro (subway) to Avenida Paulista, the city´s most well-known street where all the large businesses are located. By the time we arrived, the place was packed with people - most of them wearing white. (Supposedly, wearing white on New Year´s Eve brings good luck for the coming year.) A large stage was set up at one end of the street for singers and performers, but we were too far away to see much.

Street vendors were everywhere selling beer, wine, fresh corn and other goods. Making our way to the main avenue, we were searched twice by policemen looking for guns and other contraband I guess. Thankfully, they let me hold on to my little pink camera. I´m not really sure what the police force is like in Brazil (from what I hear, they aren´t the greatest), but on this night they seemed prepared - although, leaving the festivities I did see one policia finishing off a beer.

As we waited for the stroke of midnight, groups of young men would go by singing songs and dancing in the street, couples displayed affection freely (I was surprised to find the word ¨modest¨in my Portuguese Dictionary.) and the explosions of fireworks rattled between the buildings. The countdown began at ten seconds to midnight, and the place went wild as 2007 began - officially three hours before it began on the east coast of the United States.

I took a few pictures, but I´m finding that my camera isn´t the greatest at night. I hope your 2007 starts off in a traditional Brazilian way - with a bang.