I stillllll can't believe I'm saying it, but I'm here in Santos, and everything is better than I could have even dreamed of!(: But maybe I should back-track a little, it's been a ridiculously crazy week. This time last monday, I received terrible news that the brazilian consulate could not locate my visa anywhere due to a computer system failure. I was told then that I might have to wait another 2 weeks to go to Brazil, because AFS-USA wanted to make sure I got oriented properly. But by tuesday afternoon, after many hectic hours and phone calls, I found out I would definitely be leaving early wednesday morning for Miami! So after saying goodbye to my cats, my family, and Berea, I boarded my plane and arrived there right on time. Orientation was held wednesday afternoon and thursday morning, and it was GREAT(: All the other american AFSers going to Brazil and Paraguay were there, and we had a ton of fun! The hotel we stayed at was amazinggg too, so that was definitely a perk. After a really awesome 24 hours together, we all boarded our 8 hour flight to Sao Paulo, and arrived around 5:30 Friday morning! The paraguay kids went their way, and we went ours, and at 8:30 my host family came to pick me up! And since then, I can't stop laughing and learning from them, they're wonderful people (: This weekend, I've seen a lot of Santos, watched my first soccer game, gone out shopping TWICE, eaten as much delicious food as humanly possible, and laughed a lot. I really love this city, its very lively and loud, and people are very friendly here. Soccer is HUGE, there are so many signs up for Santos FC, the local team (which is very good, Pele played for Santos, and Neymar does now). The food is also SO good, I have a feeling I'll come back 20 lbs tubbier due to excessive tropical fruit juices, steaks, rice & beans, and amazing desserts like cakes of all different kinds, something like flan, and ice cream all the time! And communicating is surprisingly easier than I thought- I was a little nervous at first because I hadn't studied portuguese very well, but having a spanish background definitely helps. And today I started my first day of school! I was a little lost at first, but made some new friends during our intervention time (school is divided into sessions of 100 minutes, 15 minute breaks, and on Mondays and Wednesdays, lunch breaks too), and the girls are really funny too. People here laugh so much harder and realistically than in America, I love it! But enough of summarizing, I thought I'd let you know the differences between Ohio and Santos, Brasiiillll!!
You know you're in Brasil when:
1) Kissing people's cheeks, even the first time youve met, is the norm. Boys with girls, girls with girls, adults with children, kisses all around!
2) Men will comfortably go out in nothing more than a speedo. I live very close to the beach, and in the last 4 days I've seen my fair share of balding, middle aged men strutting their stuff.
3) The heat. I constantly feel moist, showering twice a day is pretty common.
4) Getting used to being able to see in people's lives easily. Since most people live in closely packed apartments here, I can see about 50 family's living rooms from mine! And everybody knows everyyboddyyy here, it amazes me still that in a city of 300,000, somebody's cousin knows that person's sister who married their uncle.
5) People, especially women, are very fashion-forward here. I'm guessing the one-piece jumpsuit is going to hit american markets in about a year or so? And clothes are also VERY expensive. And when I say expensive, i mean something that would cost maybe $25 in the US, can be upwards of $100 here!!
6) Telephone #'s have 8 digits, and almost everybody has a phone (or 2) here.
7) Brazilians don't really have a sense of personal space, bumping into each other is nothing big, cars pack in close, people get in your face during a conversation to show interest.
8) Maids among the middle class and up are very common, manual labor here isnt worth as much as it is in the states.
9) When the food is delicious. Seriously, its soooooo good.
10) Loud explosions and sirens doesn't mean a war-zone or anything, its just carnaval preparations or a passing cargo ship.
So thats allll for now, & sorry for the novel, theres just so much I want to share! I miss you all very much, but I am very happy here so no worries(: I'll update again later, tchau!
