Minha Vida no Brasil

Turk e Tanta vieram ao Brasil!!

I think in my last post I spoke about my parents coming to visit me (sorry for the delay), they came the first week of April and I don’t think that I could’ve asked for a better visit! I don’t have pictures from the first part of the trip because they’re on my mom’s camera and she refuses to send them to me, but tudo bem, I’ll manage. 

They arrived Saturday morning bem madrugada, like 3am. We went back to my house for a quick nap and around 9am the same morning, we (Cary, Nancy, Vilma, Leônidas, David, e Dâmara) got in the car and headed to Barrerinhas. 

I’ve written about Barrerinhas before, I’ve just left out one of the most crucial parts of explaining what Barrerinhas is. Barrerinhas is the city that surround the Brazilian National Park of the Lençóis Maranhenses. What are the Lençóis? They’re huge sand dunes and depending on the season (Rainy or Dry), lagoons will form between the dunes. These pictures are from another trip that I made to the dunes with my friend Maria. We went for New Year’s, which is the dry season, so the lagoons were not that full. When we went a couple of weeks ago, it was a lot more beautiful because you really got to see the separate dunes etc. 

imagine water in between the dunes and that is what it looks like now. 

Barrigudo!! kkkkk 

We spent three days in Barrerinhas and my parents loved it! I don’t think there is a more beautiful place on earth. You look to your left, right, ahead, behind, and it is all sand and water. The sand is such a pure white and the water (not in these pix) is such a crystal blue. O Maranhão is a very rich state in natural beauty and the Lençóis is a perfect example of this! 

After we returned to SLZ, I set up a forró lesson for my parents. LOL, that’s really the best way to describe it. I use to think that I lost the rhythm for funsies, but now I realize that I inherited my “moves” from my dad… Here are some pix. 

bustin’ a move 

We also had a lot of great laughs with my various Brazilian families. 

thnx nance…

happy people!! 

I really 110% enjoyed having my parents in São Luís with me. Although they were only here for a week and didn’t get to fully experience the city, it was great to be with my parents. The people who really understand my jokes and my humor. I have to admit, when I left Philly, I didn’t shed one tear! Not one! I was like, PEACE OUT everyone who is lame, I’m going to BRAZIL!! But this time when I left my parents at the airport, I was crying like such a little baby. After they left I missed them. I was always the one who was like, I’m not going to miss my parents, I won’t even notice they’re gone…and then I was the one crying on  my way home from the airport…embarrassing! 

I think now, mais ou menos, in my 9th month of exchange, I have a strange feeling. In a lot of ways, I’m VERY much looking forward to going home. Returning to my American freedom, American activities, and just being in a comfortable environment. Butttttt, always has a but, I feel torn because a large part of my heart is here. Like, how am I going to leave the people who have made this year amazing? How will I be able to just “forget” (not forget, but move on) them and start my new American life? I think the best way to describe how I’m feeling is torn. Very frequently people ask me if I miss home etc, and in the beginning I didn’t. Now, my answer is very frequently yes yes yes. But at the same time, I know that when I think about the last hug/kiss/touch in the airport is going to killlllll me. Literally, I will be a mess for days. I’ve already told my boyfriend here that he doesn’t have to worry about me in college (in the sense of boys going after me) because I’m going to be known as “the girl who cries all the time.” Example of a conversation: “Hey have you seen Kelsey?” “Kelsey? Who is Kelsey?” “You know, she’s short, smiles a lot, acts like she’s Brazilian.” “OHH KELSEY! That’s here name??? We just call her ‘girl who cries a lot’.” fml, for the future that lies ahead of me!! lololol 

My birthday was also a couple of weeks ago. I would write about it, but it was sort of a dissapointing birthday, and therefore doesn’t really deserve a post. To sum up the day, I went to the beach, then it started to rain, then we played with friends for a while, and then went out to Mixtura (Casa de Tecnomelody/brega). I enjoyed it, I spent it with the people that I love, but at the same time, not everyone that I love was there for the entire time, so it became meio chato sem eles. But, bright side, I’m 19!! Yeahhhhhhh. I’m gonna go do cR@zii things that an 18 year old wouldn’t do. lawl 

This pic shows the happiness of my birthday…

Other news? I’m learning zouk! I have to say that I’m doing pretty well. Here is a video of zouk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3voWMr-po48&playnext=1&list=PL4DEE6B6C31BFB2DB

When I first starting dancing zouk, I wasn’t that good because it’s a very very very sensual dance, and like I’m just a white jewish girl, what do I know how being sensual. But now that I’ve transformed my hips from American to Brazilian, I’m having a lot of success and fun! My other exchange student friends have also began dancing zouk and although they’re not the best, it’s nice/fun to do. :-) 

OK, well miss you all! saudadessss 

beijão xoxo 

Agora Sou Capoeirista!!

A couple of weeks ago I started to do capoeira. My one friend, Mara, from Germany had been telling me about it and after a little confusion with my parents, I decided it’d be good to diversify my activities. So, I decided to study another rich part of Brazilian culture. 

What is capoeira? Capoeira is: is a Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, sports, andmusic. It was created in Brazil mainly by descendants of African slaves with Brazilian native influences, probably beginning in the 16th century. It is known by quick and complex moves, using mainly kicks and quick leg sweeps, with some ground and aerial acrobatics, knee, elbows, punches and headbutts.

The word capoeira comes from the Tupi-guarani language, referring to areas of low vegetation in the Brazilian interior. (Wikipedia) 

 in my own words, it is a type of fighting that was used by the slaves during the time of enslavement. Brazil has very deep roots in slavery. Brazil imported almost 3x as many slaves as the US and for that, African culture is very present in Brazilian culture. In Brazil, there are mais ou menos, 3 main “slave drop offs,” Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and São Luís. THe most attractive slaves were sent to Rio and the least attractive were sent to SLZ (probably why everyone always complains of SLZ not having any hotties…que pena!!) I don’t know why I never go around to writing about my Northeast trip from Nov/Dez, tô perguiçosa! (a única resposta válida…lol) but anyway, one of the cities that we visited, which I absolutely adoredddd, was Salvador, Bahia. Bahia, the state, in general, is a very “black” state. A majority of the slaves were sent to Salvador and as a result, Afro-Brazilian culture is bangin’ in Salvador. Side note: Salvador is filledddddddd with sexy hott chocolates with dread locks and like hott bodz. Omg, died and when to candy heaven when I was there lol. Ok, anyway, as a way to protect themselves from their white owners or people in general, the slaves began to “dance.” Although capoeira isn’t a dance, the slaves were forbidden to practice any form of self defense because they needed to be “easily controlled” by their owners. As a way to get around this, they added singing, instruments and a distinct rhythm that is only capoeira. 

When it comes down to it, capoeira is about fighting. Your basic stance, or ginga, needs to be firm because it’s your way to attack or defend yourself. Here are some common attacks and defense moves: 

Aú- An aú, in its base form, is performed very slowly, with arms and legs bent in order to keep a low target profile. Also the back can be curved in order to perform a kicking maneuver.

Cocorinha- One of the simplest defense movements. With the feet flat on the ground the player squats with the knees to the chest so as to close the body and covers the side of the torso and head with one hand while the other is flat and to the side for support. Another variation of this involves squatting with the balls of the feet

on the ground and arms crossed in front and above the face. 

Meia-lua de Frente- Meia Lua de Frente (Front Half Moon) is an outside-inside crescent kick seen in other martial arts. This kick involves using the hips to generate enough force to bring the foot of the kicking leg across the face of the player. While it can be used as an attack itself, it mainly is used as a poke or trap for another attack. Other uses for it can be as a combination with cartwheels and other acrobatic moves therefore working as an escape.

When you are fighting with someone, you have a series of back and fourth motions that are a series of moves that are either attacking or protecting. Here is some videos of capoeira. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xxgFpK-NM (really good) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYV-_TFcKng&playnext=1&list=PL698C86A8C22027B7

As I said before, music is a large part of capoeira. There are a series of drums called the bateria. The most important instrument is the berimbau, which is played with a stick and stone. The berimbau creates the rhythm for sparring. 

You also have pandeiros (tambourines), a reco-reco (rasp), and an agogô (double gong bell). 

 tambourines/drums 

agogô  

My teacher, Senzala, has said that capoeira is not soly about sparring, but learning about the rhythm, learning how to play the instruments that makes this rhythm, and how to sing the songs are crucial to the practice of capoeira. 

I personally really enjoy going to capoeira because I eel like it’s an overall great work out, body, mind, and soul. I love the feeling of leaving Acapus Capoeira Studio, completely covered in sweat, totally acabada from training for 2 hours, shoulders/back/overall body sore, and falling asleep as soon as my face hits the pillow. Even though some could find my sweating rather gross, I feel like I’m releasing all of the toxins in my body and giving my body a well deserved work out. Side note: honestly, I haven’t run run since PC/GA Day 2009…embarrassing, I know. Mega lawl. Anyway, the various twists and positions that my body is forced to make allows fo me to get stronger in all aspects, but by using my body as resistance. My arms get stronger by learning how to carry the weight of my entire body. Ah, I love it! When my parents arrive in a couple of weeks, maybe I’ll take them. w8, bad idea, I can hear Turk complaining about his back already… lol <3 

Maybe when I get home to the US, I’ll open up a “Little Brazil” restaurant/studio/night club type jawn. Where you’ll get delicious Brazilian food whenev you want. You can learn how to dance forró, tecnomelody, samba, etc, and learn how to do capoeira. And then you’ll have a place to practice everything you’ve learned! OMG best idea ever!! Who wants to sponsor me? I’ll bring real Brazilians to teach etc. Straight up authentic etc. holl@. Ficam aguardando!! 

Beijão, 

kf 

Carnaval 2011!!

Carnaval, aka the biggest party in Brazil, was last week. March 3-8, and because of my ca-ray-zee time I think that sharing it with my avid readers is necessary. I’m pretty sure you’ll want to be seated for this wild and crazy tale of my carnaval…93.8% chance you won’t be able to contain yourself. Let’s go! 

What is Carnaval? Essentially it is a country wide party. Every state/city/region celebrates carnaval in their own way. I’m not sure of the exact history of it, but it has something to do with meat. Carne-> carnavval. Maybe people started throwing meat parties and that’s how it transformed into a huge rager? Sei lá. Ok, but what does carnaval mean for BRazil today? It’s broken into regions: 

São Paulo/Rio: The Samba Schools put on shows with costumes, floats, and original music that each school is required to create. Each school spends millions of Reais for their one hour slot to march. Every school chooses a theme of some sort and uses this theme with their floats, costumes, and music. These parades are shown on the national tv 24/7 during carnaval. There are contests to see which school will win and the fight is competitive! This is the carnaval that the rest of the world knows and is one of the most famous/popular exports of Brazil. I’m sure you’ve hear about it/or seen it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLya2kdDaAM 

Salvador: One word, Axé. Axé is a type of music that is very popular in Salvador, Bahia. This is Axé: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT8xro8fRw8&feature=relmfu . How do you dance to Axé? Jump up and down, run into people and drink a lo. This video is of Chiclete com Banana, a really popular Axé band. A couple of months ago I went to the concert and it was a lot of fun! The only thing is, I was elbowed, almost forced to kiss someone, and head butted multiple times while jumping and pulando. So how do you enjoy carnaval in Salvador? Hook up with some hottttttt chocolates (think beyond the candy…), drink, and dance to Axé! Score man! (Que pena that I didn’t go to Salvador…) 

Northeast: I’ve said before that the Northeast is FULL of forró. It’s the preferable type of music in this region. So, during época de Carnaval, forró becomes more electric and with a faster rhythm. yay 

My city/state: Essentially everyone leaves the São Luís and goes to the interior and partys in a smaller city where the crime rate is lower and everything is relatively tranquilo. 

What I wanted to do: In keeping with the tradition of my city/state, I wanted to travel to a small city in a neighboring state, Luís Côrreia, Piauí, and rage there. The musical lineup in LC was flippin stacked!! Exaltasamba (LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BAND) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-xmjgPvQlE Garota Safada http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJhIUh554fg Aviões de Forró http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHIvRUF9yIA (basically the song of carnaval). Like can you get flippin better than that!? Yes, yes you can. LC IS ON THE BEACH!! So imagine all of this ragin beach side!! A couple of my friends went and said it was amazing. My one friend met a sexy israeli ;-) (lawl, when she came home, we made hamantaschen in honor of Purim. and I was like OMG, next time you meet a sexy israeli, you can use your new knowledge of Jewish culture and totes woo him! I know, I am such  a match maker! ;-) ;-) ;-) ..but really…lawl). So FML that LC was so great and I wasn’t apart of it… 

What I did: So I didn’t explain yet what we specifically do to enjoy carnaval, então vamos lá. You get drunk, go to an area (usually a specific neighborhood is throwing the party or bloco, or if you go to a small city, the center), listen to a band that is playing on top of a bus/truck. The group of drunk carnaval pular-ers (people who like carnaval), follow this truck while jumping around, throwing silly string, corn starch, water/beer on the crowd as everyone follows the band. Well, although that doesn’t sound like my idea type of party, if with a group of stellar people, it could be excellent.

The week leading up to carnaval, I decided that it would be a good idea to get sick…sick like taking antibiotics etc. What does that mean? No drinking etc. Ok, grool, not the end of the world, I can survive. Just now, when someone shoots silly string or corn starch in my hair it seems to lose a bit of its excitement. Or when someone, who is drunk, head butts me, instead of laughing it off like he did, I start cursing in English and being like, “omg, you just head butted me, DB!”

So, let’s start to get personal. What I did exactly. Once again, I went to Barrerinhas with my family. I didn’t write about my New Years because it was awful, but where did I go? Barrerinhas. Why was it awful? I was with my parents..and their friends…did I get to partake in any fun activities? Na dawg. Did I get to enjoy New Years like the people who stayed in SLZ did? Think again! Now you’re seeing the picture of how I felt prior to going to Barrerinhas…to me it seemed like another party that I’ll be missing. gr8. 

Let me rewind, no, I didn’t go with my family. My brothers found something better to do, so I went with my parents (from my mom’s family) + 4 aunts, 1 dad, 1 stepmom, 2 uncles, 1 cousin. Nine people + my parents + me. The youngest person was 4 years old. Then me…then an aunt with some 40 odd years. So without going into much detail, pode enxergar why my carnaval was less than exhilarating? 

The group. 

To make the weekend not a complete bust, I was lucky enough to have a group of friends, other exchange students, that went with their families to Barrerinhas as well. After arriving, I was +/- able to play and enjoy minha turma as my parents enjoyed theirs. Clara (Denmark), Janine (Sweden), Esben (Denmark), and Teemu (Finland) saved me from complete and utter boredom and losing all hope of enjoy carnaval. One night went to the center of the city to pular carnaval um pouco and did as I explained in the past couple paragraphs (chased a bus and jumped etc). We jumped around for about 2 hours, we danced, we sweated, and at around 11 we decided that we had jumped enough until next year’s carnaval and decided to get some ice cream… I know, I know, on our ca-ray-ziiiiiiii night, we ended by eating ice cream and I got a T-rê-rê (like twist thing that makes me feel really cool) put in my hair. CAN YOU SAY RAGE?!!?? 

We didn’t even get one of the cool shirts!! 

Me, Clara, our friend Valdir and his sister Rayssa. 

Now I can’t complain that much. It was nice to meet my mom’s side of the family even if there wasn’t anyone for me to hang out with. It was nice to play with my friends because we got to relax and have exchange student gossip (always a fav).

Collectively the xchange students concluded that, vamos voltar ao Brasil o ano que vem. Vamos pular pra caramba e ir pra Salvador, Rio, ou Recife. E essas cidades devem ficar preparadas porque os gringos estão vindo pra invadir!! And, that none of us think that we’ll spend carnaval in Barrerinhas again…ever. lolol 

I hope my fellow xchange student Brazilians enjoyed carnaval more than I did and we’ll come back to enjoy together!! 

beijão gente!! 

3 p.s.

1. tô apaixionadinha por meu namorado! que fofinho, né? 

2. Shout out to Wesley (American from my district who I ADORE! He lives in Teresina, Piauí) and Thea (Danish girl from my district who is super grool who also lives in Teresina) came to visit me! Well, actually they came to see Jason Mraz in SLZ…but like same thing, right? Omg, we were so flippin close to meeting him! I 1% flirted with the body/security guard and also used my amazing, “tell Jason that American fans want to meet him!” Sadly our timing was off and we went after the show, and instead of being escorted to the backstage with ease, a bunch of Brazilian groupies totes cramped my flow. I met everyone from the band, sang FLY EAGLES FLY because the bassist is from Philly or something, and then these Brazilian girls were all up in my grill and didn’t let me go back stage. l@m3. But, like always, it was SO much fun to play with Wesley and Thea! 

3. Turk n Tanta estão chegando!! Agora 2 semana!! Não fale pra eles, mas tô com saudades e tambem tô bem ansiosa pra vê-los!! 

ok, até mais xoxo, kf

As Regras da Minha Vida

I was a bit hesitant to publish this on my blog for the whole world to see, but I think that my readers would enjoy this, in an amusing way, and also as an insight into Brazilian culture. I do not mean to cause any offense towards my host family, but I think that this set of rules show what upper-class Brazilian society is like. The things that they think, the things that they like and don’t, and sometimes the ridiculous things that they do. Vamo la.

As Regras da Minha Vida:

Today in school, in religion (ok, really didn’t feel like listening to my teacher tell me how bad abortion, gay marriage, and fresh new ways of thinking are) so I thought about my life in Brazil and the various rules that my host mom has given me. Now, a majority of these rules are not spoken, but more what I’ve been able to infer. If I did x, instead of y, things might be smoother. But, because I’m a rebel (;-) ) doing x when I want to do y, is frequently not going to happen, lol. I promise I’m not purposely difficult, and I don’t think that my host mom thinks that I’m difficult, I think that she is looking at me being here as a learning experience (let’s hope for that) and that  my resistance to her pushing has some good to it. I guess we’ll see in August…lol.

1. A Proper Lunch is not pizza.

Today was my friend from school’s birthday. When I was getting out of the car, I said to my mom, that we were going to go for lunch in Centro, and (my Polish friend) Maria planned for us to go to a pizzeria. She looked at me like I had just said that I was planning on going to a motel (place you go to get your freak on, if only…) after school. “Tu vai comer pizza? Para o almoço? You’re going to eat pizza, for lunch?” “Sim? É estranho? Yeah, is that weird?” “Pizza é um lanche, não é almoço. Pizza is a snack, not lunch.” “Uh..Ok..? (thinking to myself, why do you care what I eat for lunch/who made this rule?).” Like I didn’t think that saying that for one day of my Brazilian life I wasn’t going to eat rice and meat would cause such a controversy. Oh and FYI, the pizzeria was closed so we ended up going to like a churrascaria anyway.

2. There are proper hobbies and not proper hobbies. Of course, I have only picked up the not proper hobbies, stellar Kels, just stellar.

As I’ve said in other posts, I have  started to dance. Learning all different kinds of Brazilian dances and I love it! 1. It helps me not gain the “Exchange 15” and also I’m learning more about things that I, Kelsey, like to do. For some odd reason this is a ridiculous activity, and I would be much better received at home if I chose to sit at home on the computer all day and not leave the house like my brothers. Ok, def not going to happen. Sorry that I like to do things with my exchange…

3.You cannot do a, b, c, and d, with the neighbors:

a.Have extended conversations with them because they are all yentas and will twist my words into something I didn’t say. E.g. I said jokingly to a neighbor that I don’t want to leave, and she told my mom that I said that I’m never going home and going to stay here forever. Like Y-E-N-T-A!!

b. Ask for a cup of sugar, for example, if you happened to run out when you’re baking. Yesterday a box arrived from my parents and my mom put in some Ghirardelli Brownie Mix (yum, thnx Nance xoxo). I had already lit the oven and greased the pan when I realized that we didn’t have enough vegetable oil to fill the recipe. I was like, oh, ok, I’ll go knock on the door of one of the 3 other apartments that share o 4 andar with my family. My housekeeper almost had a conniption and said, “NO KELSEY. YOU CAN’T DO THAT!! Your mom would not like that! You can’t go ask someone else for a vegetable oil! She would get very angry with you!” So, instead of walking the ten feet to the house across the way, I had to walk to the supermarket and back, for like ½ c of vegetable oil. LAME. Valeu, mamãe.

c.Trust them because they love to have the latest gossip, so anything that the yentas say to me or that I say to the yentas, they’re going to repeat 10x over so I should just quit while I’m ahead and avoid conversations with them (continuation of A.)

d.Show a bad face to the neighbors because that will give them something to yent about. E.g. asking them for a cup of oil would be like, omg, they can’t even afford vegetable oil in their house…omg. Ok, I’m sorry that’s ridiculous to me. I walk down the street to my neighbor’s house for a cup of sugar if my mom is baking, I doubt that Mrs. Nicolo thinks that our house is now going into foreclosure and we couldn’t pay for our own sugar, therefore have to mooch off of hers. RIDICULOUS!

4. I can only use the white school shirt on days that I have gym.

I have two shirt options for school: Light blue that doesn’t really bring out my eyes, or white that looks better with my hair/skin/eye combo. Obv going to choose to wear the white shirt more than the blue shirt, but I have been reprimanded various times before I go to school because I’m told that the white shirt is only for some days. Ok, literally every day there is like a 35/65 split of white to blue, and not everyone had gym every day, so clearly it doesn’t matter. UGH.

5.There are proper boys that I’m allowed to date (must fit at least 1):

a. Must be wealthy (not said, I’m inferring this one)

b.Can’t dance (totes true, goes with number 2)

c. Must live in Renascença, Ponta d’Areia, or another wealthy neighborhood of SLZ  (not said)

d. Must be deemed attractive, if not, they’re seen as a target to be made fun of by the family (not said, but I have examples)

e.Must fulfill the Macho way and be able to drop me off, not I drop them off. (was said, but in a nicer way, so therefore going back to letter A)

6. Proper Hair Cuts (not said, but goes along with 5. d)

a. No Mohawks

b.No hair dye (for a boy)

c.No pixie cuts, because long hair is just prettier

d.Anything that is not “normal”

7.I must buy the proper brand of hair dye

I don’t know if you know, but I dyed my hair blonde. At first the color was a little shocking, but now I’m starting to really like it. 1. I think it looks like Shakira (score) 2. It’s like a strawberry blonde, which goes along well with my skin/eyes etc. I was reprimanded for not using L’Oreal brand dye (R$15), I used  Cor n Touch (R$7). That is why my color is sort of changing and it’s not how I wanted it etc. Ok, imschuldik meer (like ex-ca-useeee me in Yiddish), I like the color that my hair is and I didn’t know that there was a proper vs. not proper hair dye.

8.Amount of money spent on certain activities:

a. Spending money on an activity that I like, e.g. dance/a gym membership= not ok/form of praising Satan/ wasting my time etc (said in not so many words)

b.Sitting at home, not being active, gaining weight that I clearly don’t want to gain = YAYYY!! Best exchange student ever!!!

Vomit in and around my mouth area.

9.I must wear the proper shoes for school:

I think every reader will 1% remember my black All Stars. Ok, I love these shoes! I’ve had them since freshman year and they have literally been everywhereeeeeee in the world. Spain, France, Israel, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, literally everywhere. I know that they’re old and dirty, but I love them simply because I feel like they have so many memories! Like to walk all around the world like that, they mean something to me! I’ve been reprimanded that they’re ugly and dirty and therefore should not be worn to school. Instead, I should wear a pair of sneakers that I bought here that are newer, but sometimes are too tight on my feet and hurt. Didn’t realize my shoe choice had such an impact on your life etc…

10. I must eat proper snacks:

I don’t remember if I’ve said this before, but I like eating apples, carrots, and other types of fruit/vegetables. Whenever I eat one of these healthy choices, I am looked at as if I were eating raw pig intestine and frequently badgered that that is all I eat. Yes, instead, I should eat the snacks that are unhealthy and fattening because….dot dot dot, still waiting on a reason. Like I genuinely like eating fruit/veggies. Everyone knows that for lunch every day I brought lemon apples and carrots. Like not that shocking, ugh.

11. The foods that I drink with water:

I like water. I drink water all the time. 1. Because it’s the elixir of life 2. Because it’s good 3. Why drink soda when my thirst is quenched just as well via water? Every time that I drink water with pizza, my lunch, breakfast, fruit, bread, really anything when isn’t just water by itself, I’m looked at in an odd way and also told to drink soda—which I politely refuse. Ok, everyone says how much Americans drink soda, but Brazilians totally win the award. Two days ago my brother brought home a 3LITER (3 LITERS!! DOES THAT EVEN EXIST IN THE US??!!) of Coke. K grool. By yesterday is was basically empty and today it was gone… 3 liters?! That’s ridiculous.

12. Allowed places in my daily travels etc:

a.     Reviver= OK only during the day. Once night hits, the eclectic people that frequent this part of the city turn into monsters and have an 87.3% chance of eating me.

b.     Rio Anil Shopping= Ok, but seen as far. The reason I choose to go there is that the  busses frequent this mall more than São Luís, so if you can’t take me, how about you don’t complain about the one that I choose to go to..

13. Good vs. Bad Reggae (not said)

a.     Chama Maré: (Reggae Bar in SLZ) Ok reggae bar, not filled with people smoking weed, drinking, and participating in other activities… R$15 a entrada

b.     Bar do Nelson: At the other end of the beach that is filled with Prostitutes, Regueiras smoking weed etc, and other bad things. $10 a entrada, therefore “not as nice.”

                                               i.     Ok, I’ve been to both bars and basically they have the same things. There is no difference between them besides their name and location.

14. Proper duration before you can become friends with someone

a.     I started dancing and quickly became friends with “the people from dance.” A group of boys and girls, mais ou menos, my age, that all enjoy the same thing: dancing. I was reprimanded that I became friends with everyone too quickly and that it baffles my family as to why… hmmmm, let’s think, maybe because I like them? Isn’t that how normal friendships work?

b.     I’m only here for a year…every relationship that I have already made, potentially will have, will have a quick start and a quick end aka when I leave. Soo…how does that make any sense?

15. Proper friends:

This sort of is a continuation of 5d.

a.     Must be of my social level (not said), but “won’t want me going to a dangerous neighborhood” aka a poor neighborhood.

b.     can’t look 1% different or will be made fun of. Example: my friend had recently cut his hair into a Mohawk. Yes, I told him not to, but not it looks pretty hot, not gonna lie. My brother asked me one day when he was coming over, “Is the chicken coming over?” “The chicken? What?” I didn’t get that he had given the nickname “O Galo” to my friend because of his Mohawk. As members of my family laughed about this, I turned to my Brazilian cousin and said, “I don’t tell him his girlfriend is chubby, because that’s not the right/nice thing to say, but totes ok, you’re more than welcome to make fun of someone that I  might care about. Thnx family.

16. Proper types of dance (obviously, just the ones that I’m not learning):

a.     Forró: Currently, there are essentially two types of forró, Pé de Serra, which is “traditional” and Modern/Electric. I learned to dance modern/electric, 1. Because it’s more fun, 2, because I like it more 3. If I go out to dance, they’re going to play Aviões do Forró, not some random band with a guy banging a triangle. I was told that I am not learning the “right” kind of forró and that I should learn how to dance Pé de Serra because that’s “real” forró.

b.     Tecnobrega: I showed a video to my family of me dancing tecnobrega. I was told that that’s not “real” brega and that what I’m learning isn’t right. I went out last week to dance this and was one of the best people dancing there, obv I’m doing the right thing.

c.      As we know, Carnaval is coming up. Carnaval =Samba. Instead of going right into Samba from Melody, I decided to take a break in Salsa. I was told that now is the time Samba and that I shouldn’t be learning salsa now.

d.     Oh, and I’ve also been told to lessen the number of dance classes that I do…but at the same time learn all of the things that people want me to learn. How will I do that? Nem idea!

17. I have to tell them everything so that if my family finds out something that I didn’t explicitly tell them, they don’t look stupid for hearing from another person (not said).

18. I must tell my mom everywhere I’m going. Ok, really? Am I 12? I forgot…

19.  I must show/act like we’re the best family/I’m the best exchange student ever!! (not said)

20. A teacher is not a friend

a.     If someone says they’re my teacher, they can’t be my friend, too. E.g. dance/ Portuguese teacher

21. I can’t walk around in my PJs because there are men in my house (you act like I’m using sexy lingerie, and not oversized basketball pinnies etc).

22. You can have prejudices, but you keep them to yourself, or you just don’t admit to having them. Kind of like the other  Rotary 4 Ds: Do it, don’t get caught, deny it, do it again. (Obviously not said, or that would go against their own rule lol).

So these are the 22 rules to my life now. I don’t mean to paint the picture of family being terrible mean hearted people because they’re not. I am happy to be in this family and I appreciate everything that they have done for me. My family really does mean well and I enjoy their company and the relationship that I have with them. The part that gets me is from our different upbringings, some of these rules  are ridiculous to me and I find it very hard to accept them. There is a SOJA songs that goes like this, “You can’t tell me who I am/ Cause I’m working on that too/ What’s right for me, just ain’t right for you.” Which I think is very true. The people that I live with have had a very different experience in life, overall, than me. Being an upper middle class American is very different than upperclass Brazilian. All I can say is thank you Turk and Nance for giving me such a liberal upbringing, where I can accept people for who they are mesmo, and not just how many dollar signs appear when I see them.

I hope that you, readers, have been able to laugh at these rules, because even though very frequently fire appears in my eyes, I have come to laugh and just continue with my life. Ok, sometimes (a lot of the time :$) I’m not as passive as maybe I “should” be, but I’m not that kind of person. Bitchez betta recognize!!!

K xoxo!!

kf

Primeira Semana das Aulas até Sábado!

1. This week was the first week of classes! First week of classes? What, it’s January. Yes, I know, Brasil has opposite seasons and therefore we go from January- July, August-November. So, As school ended in November, school was getting ready to start in January after “summer” break (summer? my city has rainy season and dry season, which are both equally hot, let’s say average temp. of 84 degrees ish? I know, schvitzy. 

Exciting News: When I first arrived, I basically sat in class and did nothing. I understood practically nothing and therefore didn’t pay as much attention as I probably should have… But, ja era, so it’s ok. Monday, January 24, was my first day and unlike August 11, where I understood nothing, I understood everything!! I was talking with my friend, Sophie, about this the other day. It really is amazing to think about everything that our brains have absorbed in the past 5-6 month period. All of the vocabulary words, verbs, conjugations, slang expressions, physical expressions, everything! I came home from school on Monday really happy and content with myself that I not only understood all of the teachers and their “1st Day of School Spiels” but also everyone that tried to talk to me. I didn’t feel lost anymore! I felt in the loop and alert. yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, go Kelsey! 

Not Exciting: Every up, also has a down… As I’m sure all of you know, I’m 18 and in April will be 19. When I arrived, I was put in Segundo Ano with people that are generally 16-17-ish. Even with people that are only a year or so younger than me, I still felt a little “old” in class. Now, after summer break, instead of moving with my class to Terceiro Ano, I will be staying in Segundo Ano…now, with people that are 15-16 ish. If I felt old before, you can imagine how I feel now! Everyone in my class is nice, friendly, likes to talk to me, but at the same time, I feel that we’re at completely different maturity levels—which is totally fine, like they’re 15, their idea of a ragin’ Friday should be a girls only sleepover. There’s nothing wrong with them, it’s just that I feel like I can’t express myself because I don’t have much in common with anyone in my class. When I’ve tried to express this to my mom, she’s said, “Ah, e você é uma velhona, é? Ah, and you’re old, that’s it?” It’s not that I’m old or young, it’s that in comparison to a group of 15 year old girls, I have a different mindset, different interests etc.

I guess your next question is, “Why didn’t you go to Terceiro Ano?” Terceiro Ano is the most rigorous year in Brazilian high school. At the end of the year (November-y) you take the Vestibular, equivalent to our SAT. The entire year is used as a way to prepare you for the Vestibular, and therefore you have classes de manhã AND a tarde, morning and afternoon classes, classes on Saturday, and just a super rigorous schedule as a whole aka not really my thing… I feel like I’m sort of in a pickle, because I don’t really have another option, I’m stuck in the world of 15 year old girls. gr8…

2. Ok, well something that can lift my spirits is my dancing! I would say that I spend a lot of time dancing every week (how I keep my hott bod etc ;-) lawl. And here are some videos that show my progress. They’re already on Facebook, but for the readers that aren’t friends with me or have been able to watch them, I’m YouTube official! LOL. Forró: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvLgB7RFo_g     Tecnomelody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyLPm4bs6Sc   (skip to like 43 seconds)

Speaking of dancing… last night I went out to a club named Mixtura, O Ritmo do Pará, OMG SO MUCH FLIPPIN FUN!! For cereal, probably one of the best nights out. Tecnomelody is very popular in the state west of Maranhão, Pará. It’s sort of a electronic melody, but really really fun to dance to. I like it 10x more than Forró. Last night when we went out, there was melody, forró, AND funk! Like could you flippin get a better combo!? NO! You can’t! So much fun. Here are some pictures: 

Josué, my dance teacher. 

Rhawann, my bid, h0LL@!

Rhawann and his brother Raonney. 

The sign that we’re doing with our hands is the sign for Super Pop, a band of Melody. Aw, JAMZ. Josué knows the DJ, so while I was dancing with Rhawann, the DJ was like, “We have a Gringa dancing Melody!!! YEAHHHHHHHH” and then everyone started looking at me (of course that was when I decided to lose the beat and step 1-2 instead of 1-2-3…fml). But, ok, all I can say is that I’m really happy and can’t wait to go to Mixtura for parte 2!! 

xoxo, kf 

Me da seu numero de celular?

Ok, so I’ve been here for a good 5 months and something that has not stopped amazing me since this first week has been the entire phone situation that this country operates on. In Brazil, there are essentially 4 cellphone carriers: Claro, Oi, Tim, Vivo. Depending on your carrier, your phone number will start with numbers from that operator. For example, my phone numer is (098) 8153 6109. 81=Tim. k grool. 

So, something that I can’t figure out about this country is how everyone seems to be SO attached to their cellphones, yet everyone is without credit a-l-l-t-h-e-t-i-m-e (does that make you read it like letter by letter? I just mean to have it exaggerated, ok, tanto faz). Without credit means not able to make a call or send a text message. When you call someone on the same carrier, the call is usually not free , it just costs less. What do I mean? To call Tim-Tim, it’s R$00.25 for the first minute and then unlimited. Oi-Claro, PER MIN, it can be like R$4. R$4/minute!! Are you serious?! So it doesn’t mean that you are charged R$4, it’s that whatever that cost is, is deducted from your monthly minute limit. If I have, let’s say 100 min/month, if I talk to someone from a different carrier for 5 minutes, I could have essentially used half of my monthly limit. HALF. Are we joking? Like are we for cereal right now? 

My family just switched from Claro to Tim. Can I tell you, Claro is the worst ever. Ok, coverage wise, it’s normal, (I’ll get to the kvetching about the coverage in a sec) but NO ONE else has Claro. Therefore, every time that I want to call someone else, I have to know exactly what I want to say, talk quickly, and hope that there isn’t some sort of confusion where I have to call back. With the plan that my family had, I had unlimited calls to other people in the family (my parents and my bros) (but wait, why do I want unlimited calling to my parents? I kinda prefer unlimited calls to my friends and restricted to them…lol). Also, I had, literally not joking 1%, 12 text messages per month. PER MONTH! Ok, I don’t understand why the US doesn’t send Verizon down here, open up some stores, have the plan where you can pay $5 extra/month and have UNLIMITED texting. So, I would have to decide, do I really like this person? Do they deserve one of my 12 text messages that will have to last me thirty days? If I don’t really like you, well then I guess you wouldn’t get one. If I was iffy, depended on the day, and if I liked you, pode deixar, I’d made the sacrifice. 

With this plan, I could receive as many calls/text messages as people wanted to send me, I just could never respond. After sending like 2 texts, I get a text from the cell phone company, “You have used 25% of this line’s limit of text messages. Please check with the operator if you would like to change.” I HATE those text messages. Ok, for the people who knew me at home, they know that I was not one to be getting text messages from everyone at all times of the day or night (Gladeline), I would frequently just get one, from my dad asking what time I’ll be home. FML, I know.  So, when I would get these false text messages from the cellphone company I would get so excited and be like, OMG sext! Someone loves me!! And then I’d quickly be let down and realize that it’s Claro texting me to tell me that I can’t call anyone else this month. Tits to that. 

As I said earlier, everyone is sem credito (totes every Brazilian’s most commonly used phrase). As a way to make a call, when you are sem credito, you have to call a cobrar,  or call collect (I wish they had cool Carrot Top commericals like this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Eu7sv_a6Y what a stud). You dial 9090+ the number. The problem with calling collect is that it’s SUPER expensive for the other person to receive your call. If calling from one operator to the next is R$4/min, calling collect is like R$8 or R$10. Ridic, right? Which leads me into the next topic of dando um toque.

Dar um toque, is literally give a touch, but in this scenario, it means give a ring. Which means, I call collect to your phone, and so you don’t have to pay, ask soon as you pick up, I hang up or you hang up and you call me back. This is also used as a way to let people get your attention, but let the person with the “better” plan be the one who calls back. E.g. My friend has two chips (SIM cards) from two different carriers. Now that I have TIM, my plan lets me call for free to any other person with TIM. So, if he wants to talk to me, he’ll call me with his Oi and when I pick up, he’ll hang up, and I’ll call him back on the other chip/number. Like so much confusion when it’s really not that necessary. I get SO frustrated all the time because it’s like, flippin work you stupid phone! ugh, i h8 every1 aka just the phone system. 

Coverage. Remember when I said about the coverage a couple of paragraphs up? Ok, here is the thing, I think that every carrier has relatively good service and signal throughout the city, I haven’t really had any problems. The one thing, though, that makes me SO angry, is when people are fora de área, ou seja, they are 1 foot outside of the city limits so I can’t call you. Or you’re in a part of the city where your signal is bad. My Brazilian cousin lives like a little outside of the city. She’s outside the legal limits of São Luís, but she’s still in the “city”. It’s not like I live in center city and she lives in Blue Bell. It’s like I live in center city and she lives like Chesnut Hill-y. Whatev, tanto faz. So, either when I want to call her at her house, there’s a 90% chance that her phone is out of area and I can’t connect with her. Or, if I’m at her house, there’s a 90% chance someone who wants to call me won’t be able to because I’m now fora de área. Like lamesauce x297834! I miss the days of living in Blue Bell and being able to call a friend in New York or California or Florida, from my CELLPHONE and have it cost the same amount as if I were calling my neighbors down the street. Sometimes when we’re driving to a city, Barrerinhas, like 3 hours away, until we reach Barrerinhas, the entire SLZ-BAR estrada, I have no signal. Think beyond the immediate of, “Oh, what if some gatinho calls me and I can’t answer because I’m fora de área!” But more like, “Oh, what if I’m driving and have a car accident, how am I going to call for help?!” Serious problems!! 

Two weeks ago there was a Noah’s Arc-like rainstorm and my cousin’s car got messed up in the rain and my phone like fell into a puddle, so I had to use this new phone with my old chip. And I don’t know if this is a phone problem or a chip problem, but recently the new “cool” thing to do is instead of ringing, like a normal phone, and alerting me that someone is calling me, one minute, one hour, a day later, I get a text message that says, “You received a call from (098) xxxx-xxxx at xx:xx pm.” Ok, TIM, I have a better idea, how about you just flippin ring when someone calls me and then you don’t 1. have to get my hopes up by hearing the sound of a text message 2. tell me that someone called and I don’t even know who called me because the number is all messed up etc. Like for cereal! 

All of this confusion etc creates for an irritated population and a stingy population because I don’t want to lend my cellphone to anyone else because I might need to call/text someone later. I never once thought about using up all of my minutes for the month at home. Probably because it was free Verizon-Verizon, free weekends, and free after 9pm-5am. And unlimited text/picture ;-)/ video messages. Em fim, if anyone knows/has a relative/friend/contact at Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, or any other American phone company, PLEASE recommend that they open a branch in Brasil. If before July, preferably São Luís, Maranhão, but if with paperwork etc, it’s going to take a little longer, they can start in the big cities and work out. Tell them to open it with the same plans as the US and charge comparable prices and watch revenues GROW GROW GROW. I bet you 1 whole (devaluing) American dollar, that 1. people will eat that jawn from breakfast because it’s American 2. because you’ll so much more for such less prices etc! Oh, and if Verizon has any questions, my email is kelsey.flitter@gmail.com.

k, xoxo!! beijão galera!

kf

ps. I’m going to a concert tonight, Forfun, and my neighbor is going to open for the concert!! I was helping him learn the lyrics to a SOJA (new fav band, decide your gone, classicccccc) song that he’s going to play tonight!  Yayyy! I’ll let you know how it goes. 

pps. A major part of my last post that I left out was the effect that the church has on the young generation. So many people are so concerned with “what people at church will think/say” if they they go out on a Friday night. Which means that young people are missing out on the excitement of being young and going to parties, going out dancing, staying out past midnight, because of the influence of the church. Yes, I understand that some people might simply not enjoy going out, others like going to Bible study on a Saturday, but for the people who want to go out and want to experience what their city has to offer but are restricted by their parents etc, I think it’s ridiculous. We’re young! We’re suppose to go out, get into trouble, and learn from it in the morning. But whatev, maybe that’s just my liberal American opinion (Ok don’t front, you totes know that you agree with me though…) lol. xoxo! 

Egua

Oi galera! I know that this post is suppose to be about the amazing trip that I took around the Northeast of Brazil in Nov/Dec, but I’m sorry—it’s not! I went to the camera store and I was told that my memory card has a virus (how did it get a virus?! Did someone sneeze on it? /how the flip can a memory card get a virus!? L.a.m.e.). So, as soon as I get that taken care of, I will totally post all about it! I think it’s better that the suspense builds ;-).

This post will be about something that I’m feeling a lot of saudades towards: Judaism. The spent the past weekend at my “cousin’s” (Brasilian) house. My cousin, like a majority of Brazil, is not Jewish. Her family happens to be Protestant/Evangelical. My family (the one that I live with) is Catholic. In São Luís, you basically the option of being either Evangelical or Catholic—there is no real gray area of “I’m not sure if I believe in G-d.” When I say that I’m Jewish I frequently get the, “Oh, one of those people” glances, yet what that glance really means is “I have no idea what it means to be Jewish. Aren’t you a cult or something?” Which, I mean is fine. I frequently give enlighten people’s ignorance of one of the world’s four major religions and explain what it means to be Jewish—beliefs, traditions, foods, etc. I like educating people about what it means to be Kelsey Flitter. J

So, this past weekend, I spent with my cousin, Dâmara. Dâmara and I have already spoken multiple times about religion, what we believe, what her church believes etc. Side note: I LOVE MY DâMARA!! We click perfectly and every time that I sleep at her house, we spend hours talking about everythinggggg. Literally we have arrived at home at 330 am from a festa of some sort and stayed up talking until the bem madrugada (that 330 isn’t madrugada enough, lol). Ok, so since I stayed at Dâm’s house from Friday-Sunday, I went to church with her family on Sunday afternoon.

The service was in a Protestant Church and lasted a good two hours. The service was special because there was a Baptism and people also took communion (it doesn’t happen every week?). The pastor gave his sermon—it was a pretty normal service.

I don’t have any criticisms towards the service, the people, the belief, tudo “ok” comigo. The only thing that this service made me realize is how much I miss being Jewish. Ok, obv, it’s not that I’m not Jewish now; it’s just that I’m not expressing my Jewish being. Deixo explicar:

I have lived in São Luís, Maranhão for about five months now. That means that I have been without bagels and lox, challah, Manoschewitz wine, latkes, services, Hebrew/Yiddish (the little that we know), etc, for five months. Yes, of course, I’m going to have to go another six close to seven months without these things again, but at the same time, sinto muito a falta dessas coisas, I miss these things.

Growing up in suburban Philadelphia, an area full of Jewish people, Jewish activities, and a Jewish lifestyle, it’s definitely a shock to suddenly be without all of these things! To put it into a sharper perspective, I have missed four (yes, more than four, but I was never really one to celebrate Sukkot etc) holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Shabbat (happens every weeks so, like having the option of Shabbat services), and Chanukah. Yes, my family isn’t the most observant family in the world, but we celebrate all of these things. I miss dipping apples in honey, eating a salt bagel with lox after fasting for 24 hours. I miss eating latkes and lighting the menorah! I never thought I’d say it, but I miss going to services. I miss being in a familiar place with familiar people, songs, and being Jewish in general. Even though familiar faces and family at this Sunday Service surrounded me, I still felt so out of my element and even more like an estrangeira than normal.

But, I’ve decided that instead of lamenting about how much I miss being Jewish, I should take advantage of the fact that I’m here as a student and therefore will take advantage of the fact that I have a lot to teach and learn as well.

I promise to update again soon! 

Tava com saudades! 

xoxo, kf

ps. i dyed my hair blonde…let’s see who has more fun!! 

E Aí, Tudo Bom tumblr?

Oi avid readers! I’m sorry for not writing in weeks, I was out of town. I am alive and well and tend to write about my trip, my only issue is that my camera decided to stop working. For some reason it isn’t connecting to my computer and tá completamente fodida, então I’m planning on going to the store this week and will hopefully have an exciting post up for you all shortly!! 

BEIJãO GENTE! 

xoxo, kf

p.s. Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! 

Tô Gostando Mais e Mais Todos os Dias!!

I’m going to break this post into three parts, aka the three exciting things that have happened in the past couple weeks! Beleza, então, vamo-la.

1. A Mostra Cientifica. Even with all of the bitching/kvetching/whining of my class, we put out a really, really great product. In my previous post, I didn’t know the run-down of what the Mostra Cientifica, so now let me explain pra vocês! 

The Mostra Cientifica is a project that is done by every grade from 5-11th (or the equivalents). I’m under the impression that it started as a way to show case scientific things (hence the name). I could be wrong, but I think that is how it started. Santa Teresa’s Mostra is the best in SLZ (so I’m told), and I have to agree! The work that was put into this project was the work of months and months of studying and hard work. My class focused on Organ Donation. It was a really interesting project. My class set up the science lab into 8 different parts and there was a group of about 3-4 people in each part. Each group had a different aspect to talk about, claro. Groups of about 10-15 people moved from each “room” and learned about organ donation. I stood in the last room and at the end of the presentation I said this line (it prob should go down in history, it was pretty impressive)…wait…get ready for it…”Muito obrigada pela atenção de vocês. Agora, receba uma lembrança de nosso trabalho!/ Thank you very much for your attention. Now, here’s a souvenir from our project.” I know, I know, life changing. In my last post I mentioned about my class…there was about a week or so period where for some reason my class thought that I could not speak/understand any Portuguese, and for that reason I’m pretty sure that I only got one line. I told them that I wanted to talk but I think they were also worried about me turning red…(refer to number 2). 

The topics of the classes were: Origart- about origami, O Telescopio Hubble-The Hubble Telescope which I think is the strongest in the world?, and Xingu- Starting hydroelectric energy plants in the Amazon. Xingu won overall, but I can’t even front, their project was SO good! They had waterfalls/real-looking huts from indigenous people, the perspective from the people who want to start this project, and people from the countryside who would be affected by this. I liked seeing all of the work that went into these projects. Everyone and class put a lot of hardwork into producing a great product, and I’m happy to say that my class’s was really well thought out and executed! Poxa que não ganhamos!  

2. A couple of weeks ago the Portuguese teacher for my school approached me, and the other exchange students, about doing a presentation (all in Portuguese) to the entire 2nd year aka my grade, about our home countries/life/issues etc. K gr00ls3f. I went home, made a powerpoint, put some pix ;-) from home, and on Thursday came to school ready to present! Me and my friend Elmiira from Finland were the only ones to present and I think it went really well! I talked about American food, politics (yes I brought up how angry the recent elections make me), parties, dances, a little about the iLL@d3lPh (Philadelphia), and some cultural differences e.g. kissing when you say hi, overall super touchy-ness etc. I think everyone really liked it! Side Note: I don’t know if at home I blushed really easily (maybe I did but people just didn’t really tell me?) but here I blush ALL the time! Like little things happen and I turn bright red and people call me out on it! “Ow, Kelsey tá ficando vermelhina!!” Which makes me turn even redder, ugh fml. So, of course during my presentation, everything was going well and then I got to the “Personal Cultural Differences” slide and I talked about kissing v. hugging etc. All it took was one little comment from the audience that involved kissing and me (blah blah blah…) and I started to turn bright red. Luckily everyone thought it was cute (? maybe they didn’t but just acted like they did?) and I squeaked out, “Tô ficando vermelha!!” which made everyone chuckle and I was then able to continue on with my presentation. Afterwards everyone came up to me and gave me hugs/kisses etc. Yay Brasil/Portuguese.

Side Note 2: My class makes fun of me because I frequently say, “Nononononono,” to negate something and, “Simsimsimsismsim,” to say the affirmative. After my presentation, various people from my class came up to me and were like, “Kels, where was the ‘nononono.’” lol. But the thing is in English I say “nonononono” so like I don’t mind that they make fun of me, whatev. 

3. I can officially dance forró!!! Heeeeeeeeeeeellllllllll YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Ok, forrozeira status, not quite, but quickly approaching! I went out to a forró club this past weekend to showcase my moves and I think the people that I went with were like, “dayummm shawtyyyy” (em português, claro). I wore new heels that I bought, lol heels aka 5 1/2 inch heels, and my problem wasn’t the height, it was the fact that my feet got kinda hot and then the leather was rubbing against my feet and now I have war wounds aka huge blisters on my feet, but whatev. If I turn the blisters into calluses, eventually I’ll be able to rock those jawns like no other. h0ll@! 

Tchau tchau, 

xoxo,

kf

Sala 24

I think I’ve mentioned in other posts, but just to reiterate, I’m in segundo ano, which means that I’m with 16 year olds (mais ou menos). Ok, grool. I’ve never really had an issue with being in a class with younger people, the immaturity is amusing—sometimes. The only time I’ve really made a point to stand out with my age was when I was asked out by various boys in my class. My response: You have to be able to grow a beard for me to go out with you. Boys: What!? I totally can grow one! Look here!! (Points to chin and shows 4 sprouting hairs). Me: No, 4 cabelinhos (smallhairs/peach fuzz) don’t count, sorry… I decided this was the best way to keep me at a distance lol.

In class, very often I find the fazendo besteira (goofing/doing nonsense) amusing, I mean they’re teenage boys, that’s enough of an LOL. Also, let me preface this post by saying that I do love my class. I have a lot of good girl/boy friends that are patient with me when I don’t know a word/phrase etc. A few weeks ago when I had my first “biddie problem” the boys in my class were sure to give me hugs and kisses and make me feel a lot better. But, today, I left school so irritated with the way that my class was acting. 

I don’t know why today was so irritating for me, but I wanted to just yell at someone and have them understand me (aka use slang/curses/phrases that I don’t know in Portuguese to convey my anger). Let’s start with the Mostra Cientifica. 

I’m not 100% sure of what the Mostra is, but essentially every class from every grade from up until Senior year, presents a project that has been the focus of the class for the past year. My class’s project is about Organ Transplants/Donations. We’re presenting the Mostra on Friday so, NS, everyone is pretty stressed out about it. k, groolsef, tudo bem.

Every day for the past week or so, the leaders from my class have spoken in front of the class to relate something about the Mostra. Whether it is to learn your lines, clothing, make-up, qualquer coisa. Along with standing in front of the class, for the past week, the leaders have had to deal with constant disrespect from my class i.e. talking while they’re talking, making jokes, other activities that 16 year old boys do. Ok, grool.

Today, the ruckus started when the leaders stood in front and said that two people (who had not know their lines the day before) were going to be either taken out of the project or substituted for someone else, chaos ensued. Side note: Ok, if you don’t know your lines and it’s Tuesday, project on Friday, why do you think that you’re entitled to present? Like, really? It’s not a shocker. flippin’ r00ks. Okay, so of course the leaders start talking and the chatter fills the room. Like idk what my jawn is today, but I started to get so annoyed! I started chingar in English and said to the person next to me, “Não entendo por que vocês não podem parar de falar!!” (I don’t know why you can’t stop talking!) “Então, fala Kels!” Fine. You challenge me, heck yeah I’m gonna show you who’s the bo$$man. 

I stand up and begin to walk to the front of the class. The boys that I was sitting with were nice enough (idk if it’s being nice? more just like dayyyyyyummm sonn, she’s really gonna say something) to alert the class that I wanted to say something. I get up to the front, turn around to face every one and start my rant (yes, all in Portuguese). 

“I don’t understand all of what’s going on right now, but it’s so frustrating sitting in here and having all of you give such little respect to the leaders of the class. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for all of you to stop talking for 5 minutes! Someone has to comment after every little thing that is said and it’s so irritating! Why is it so difficult to be quiet for 2 seconds. So, please, everyone, calen a boca!!” 

To which my class responded by applauding me as I walked back to my seat. LOL! I took a small bow and said my obrigadas. Although I didn’t like having to get up in front of my class to say “shut up”, I think that they realized how frustrating they were being—even to the foreigner. 

After coming home, taking a deep breath, and realizing that this wasn’t the worst thing that could happen, I now look back on it and laugh. I know that even through the talking over one another and banter of high schoolers, our project will come out really well. I’ll write about it sometime over the weekend. 

tá, beijão gente!

xoxo, 

kf

Jawns que acontecerem nas semanas passadas

Oi! Even though the adventures of Kelsey have continued, I have not updated for a while, so this will be my catch up post! Let’s go back in time two weeks. Once upon a time in Teresina… 

1. Over the weekend of October 12, I went to Teresina, Piauí for a Rotary Exchange Student playdate/ meeting. Piauí is the state next to Maranhão, and is apart of District 4490, Maranhão, Piauí, and Ceará. I think I’ve mentioned in other posts, but I’m the only exchange student in Maranhão, Teresina, Piauí has six or seven? and Fortaleza, Ceará has two. It was really great getting to meet everyone! There is another American in Teresina, but  since he was traveling with his family that weekend, I didn’t get to meet him! rats. I’d say that we have a pretty diverse group, though. The countriess present are, (2) USA, (2) Denmark, (2) Germany, (1) France, (1) Mexico, (1) Russia, and (1) Taiwan. Something that I haven’t mentioned yet: Teresina is one of the hottest places in Brasil. Ok, if I sweat like a dog in São Luís, for cereal, how am I going to survive Teresina?!!? There is a joke throughout the Northeast, that on your way to hell, you stop in Teresina for a week to acclimated to the heat, and then you pass on to the fiery pits. I wish I were exaggerating. I just looked at the forecast for tomorrow in Teresina, 103 F!!!! ONE HUNDRED AND THREE DEGREES, with zero breeze!! OMG, can you imagine a waterfall? Ok, now think of that under my arms and that is what I looked like during this meeting. At one point in the meeting, a man named Fred (pronounced Fré-jee, lawl silly brasilians) gave us (exchange students) a presentation about the various trips that we could take advantage of while being in Brasil. As I sat quietly and listened, I noticed that my face began to feel extremely hot. I looked down at my chest/arms and all I saw was the color of a tomato. My legs were just as red as my arms. To give you a better visual image, I looked as if I had been sitting in the sun for about three hours without applying a drop of suntan lotion…during this presentation, I was in a completely covered area, no sun hitting any part of my delicate pale skin. Let me tell you, that is when you know things are really flippin’ hot. But, on the bright side, it was great meeting the other exchange students! Some of my friends in Teresina are already planning a trip to São Luís! 

2. Dancing. Dancing has become a big part of my life. Mostly Forró with sprinkles of Samba de Gafieira, Bolero, Zouk, and Salsa. 

Here are some videos of these dances. 

Forró: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9UiQXSV7tk

Samba de Gafieira: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuO3Tzv274Q&feature=fvw

Bolero: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fMU1kcAYps 

Keep in mind that these videos are all of professionals etc, so think of my level as a little lower…lol but I’m really enjoying everything! My goal is be a forrozeira (person who can dance forró really well) by the time I’m headed back to the US, so I decided to start aulas particulares (private classes) with my teacher. I think they’re going really well. The classes usually take place in the downstairs area of my apartment building, so neighbors that have caught a glimpse of us dancing have said that I’m almost Brazilian!! flippin score to the max!! But, I DEFINITELY need to get better/more comfortable with dancing before I can show everyone what I’m made of…

Last week I went to “O Grande Encontro de Forró” in the center historic area. It was a big concert with three big forró bands: Magníficos, Mastruz com Leite, e Limão com Mel. The type of forró played at the concert is a little different than the kind that I’m learning. The rhythm is a little slower and the beat is a little different. That and a combination of me being 1% shy to dance in front of people, I completely froze at the concert! It was kind of embarrassing… This one guy (who was introduced to me as a dance teacher) I danced with, but we aka I could not find the rhythm! It was terrible. I became so nervous and like, how can I compare with these Brasilian biddies that were born dancing forró!? I ended up only dancing with my brothers (embarrassing, já sei…) which was fun, just like, I’m trying to be this great dancer, yet can only dance with members of the fam…sux… 

3. I started Portuguese classes! Finally! During class (Santa Teresa class), when I would deem a subject not important/boring/combination of the two, I would conjugate verbs, copy vocab lists, and other fun activities to teach myself Portuguese. Even with the little “book” that I made, I still feel like I needed some help with grammar, sentence structure, etc. I’m really happy that I started! I feel like I’m getting a better understanding of the language. I’m taking classes at an English School, so usually after my lesson, I’ll go to an class to introduce myself and say, ‘YEOOOOOOO. I’m American, what’s good in da h00d son.” Side note: I wish I could say that, no one would understand me if I threw in some of my ‘lingo’ lawl. One day I went to a class of like eight year olds. The teacher had them practice some “getting to know you” questions. Someone asked my favorite color, another if I’m afraid of the dark (a little?), or if I’m a friend to spiders (like flippin no, h8 those things). Then a little boy asked me, “Are your friends naked?” “Naked??!??” I looked over at the teacher for confirmation of what he said, and she nodded her head. Are my friends naked? I mean, not yet? Give them a few caipirinhas and they will be? lolol. I responded, “Uhh..I don’t know. Not yet?” I probably didn’t understand him correctly, but imagine if I did. MEGA LOL. Readers that are friends, watch out, you will be naked soon. xoxo

4. I went to my first Brasilian wedding last week! Before going, I imagined, a mini ‘My-Big-Fat-Greek-Wedding’ Style. P.S. has anyone noticed that the mom from My Big Fat Greek Wedding is now on Desperate Housewives as like some sort of pimp? Like who can take her seriously when you think of her Maria Portokalos?? I can’t…but anyway! I expected a large party with dancing and a lively energy. When I arrived, I saw that it was hardly as I had imagined. The service/reception was na casa da Vovó (G-Ma’s house). The service was relatively slow and between parts there was a band that would sing songs about the love between the couple, their future, Jesus/G-d loving this couple etc. At the end of the service, I asked my mom why it wasn’t as lively as I imagined and she said that the wedding was an Evangelical wedding, which means that they cannot serve alcohol (the caterers were serving soda in little cups lol), and that Evangelical services tend to be calmer and more relaxed. I enjoyed the service. Although I would’ve liked to showcase my dance moves, it was a beautiful ceremony and it was nice to attend. 

family pic from the wedding! L-R Leonardo, Vilma, Leo, Me, Leônidas

5. Last night, actually, I went to my first Crisma or Chrism? Christening? I’ve never been to an American one, so I’m sure the exact name for it, but a bunch of friends from my class were being crismado so I decided to go and show my support! It was an interesting service. I mean, it was in a church, it was a Catholic ceremony, and it was everything different from what I’m use to, but I still enjoyed it. There was a lot of singing and praising Jesus/G-d in various ways. During the service, there was this girl, no more than 7 years old, sitting in front of me. K grool, like she’s here to watch someone be crismada grool. So as I’m trying to focus on the service, I can’t help but focus all of my attention on her. She’s sitting there, spraying like gallons of perfume on her neck, hair, dress, everywhere! Then she decided to apply lipstick. k, this girl is like 5, why does she need all of these extended beauty products? She then decides that she doesn’t reek enough, so she starts to douse herself with more perfume. Alternating between a spray perfume and a bottle. Ok, how am I suppose to focus on the service when 1. I have to listen to everything in another language 2. I’m thinking about how different this is than anything I’ve ever been to 3. This newb girl is lathering her tiny body with 8 different kinds of perfume!?! If the headache isn’t enough, I don’t know what is! I quietly starting saying ‘Para!’ then louder ‘Stoppppppppp! Stoppppppp!’ Secretly hoping that because she had blonde hair, she’d understand English, lol. Eventually she calmed down, but the sent lingered for the entire night, so there was no escaping it. But, I enjoyed seeing everyone in my class! The service was interesting. I feel that I’m learning more about Catholicism every day, which is good. Although I still have my own beliefs, opening my eyes to something new is what I’m suppose to be doing while in Brasil. E então…

from L-R: Amanda, Me, Amanda, Ariela, and Marina <3

6. I might have said this at some other point, but I miss Pen Pen SOOOO MUCH. In Portuguese, the expression for, “I miss ___” is “Estou com saudades de___.” To say that you’re dying of saudades, missing-ness? essentially? Idk how you’d translate it, you can say, “Estou morrendo de saudades de ____.” Meu deus, ESTOU MORRENDO DE SAUDADES DE PENNY!! So, as a way to cope with the hole in my heart, the other day, I decided to take a stroll to A Clínica Veterinária (the Vet). When I arrived, I explained my morrendo-de-saudades situation and was guided to the ‘Adopt a Puppy’ section. In this cage, there were three little baby Dachshunds! OMD, best day ever. I couldn’t take them out of the cage, but all I wanted to do was cuddle with them! Something I’ve noticed is that dogs here aren’t as friendly as Pen… Some of my neighbors have dogs, so every time that I see them I’m like, “Ama-me!!!” but for some reason, they don’t want to! One like straight up turns the other way and the other bears her teeth! I’m like, really? Come the flip on! Just let me love youuuuu. Ugh, this is becoming such a problem. And what’s even worse is that when I talk to my parents on Skype and try to get Pen’s attention, she acts so uninterested. Ok Penny, your turn now, throw me a bone!!! 

Ok, well I would say that you’re all caught up on my life. I will definitely try to update more frequently. K, well beijos. ttyl8r g8rs. 

xoxo, kf

P.S. Shout to my fans at Drexel: Dugas, Mahan, and Dylan. Solid vidchat the other day!!

Isso é o Brasil

I’m going to keep this short, but I want to paint you a picture of my Brasilian life. Yesterday we had a churrasco (Brasilian BBQ) downstairs on the pool deck of our apartment building.

mmmm, I LOVE LOVE LOVE churrasco. The meat is prepared very simply: you lather coarse salt on the meet and then put it on the grill. I don’t know if it’s the salt, the quality of meat, or the charcoal grill, it is delicious! 

So, yesterday, we had a small churrasco and at one point, I  was the churrasqueira (person who cuts, prepares, cooks, and serves the meat). I stood next to the counter and slowly sliced down pieces of beef into the perfect churrasco-ing size. I lathered coarse salt on to the meat, shook off some extra crystals, put the meat on the grill and waited for the sizzle. 

In the background of all of this, Aviões do Forró is playing, people are dancing, and Brahma (a Brazilian beer) is being passed around. I don’t think that I ever felt so Brasilian since my arrival in São Luís! This is the epitome of life below the equator! What problems could you have if your life revolves around eating, dancing, and enjoying life? NONE! 

Beijão and I hope everyone learns to enjoy life to this extent! 

A Praia

Today I went to the beach for the first time (yes, I live on an island, I’ve been here for two months and today was the first time. I have no idea why it took me this long to get there)! Remember when I was younger and I wanted to be a mermaid? (If you don’t, I’ll quickly update you: I don’t know why, but like end of elementary school/beginning of middle school, I was obsessed with mermaids. When I’d swim in my pool, I’d always play ‘The Mermaid Game’ which consisted of me swimming with my legs together in the hopes of sprouting a fin and finding Ariel hiding out in the deep end. When we’d go to the Jersey Shore, I’d use my “mermaid instincts” to do things [I don’t really know what the instincts could give me, so just special things in general]. Eventually my brother started mocking me enough that I gave up my obsession [give up, not really, reduced the amount I like mermaids to the ‘normal’ amount]. Now, only in certain instances do my “mermaid instincts” come out once again). Okay, today I totally realized why! Honestly, what is better than laying in the surf as the tide rushes through your hair, and you’re digging through the sand for some baby clams that you will eventually open (aka kill) and then throw back into the tide, and walk out of the ocean like you were on Baywatch. Flippin’ nothing, that’s what. 

Anyway, today is a pretty lucky day because you get to see pix along with what I’m saying! (No, Chloe, not naughty ones. Sick freak.) Ok, vamo-la…

. 

As I said earlier, Sao Luis, is an island. On my way to school every day, I cross a bridge that connects “A Cidade Nova” with “A Cidade Velha.” Side note: I’ve noticed no one refers to the two parts of the city as “old” and “new”, so I don’t know why I do. Whatev, it’s grool. To get to the beaches, you drive along Avenida Litorânea, which is your access to the beaches. At a certain point in our drive, the road itself ended and instead of parking and getting out of the car, our 4x4 Land Rover (pronounced Lan-jee Ho-va) continued its path onto the sand. You can see in the picture above that people drive right on the beach, park, and spend their day. There are “actual” roads to get to any of the beaches, it’s just faster/ kinda cooler to drive on the sand. You feel kinda BA because you’re like, “Yeah fools, I’m driving on the beach.” I think for the people who live here, it doesn’t hold that type of appeal, but go with it.

After about fifteen minutes of driving, and the passing of probably fifteen different bars/restaurants/places to eat, we stopped. We pulled up to a little shack that said that it had caranguejo (crab, the speciality in Sao Luis). Since our car was fifty feet from where we were sitting, we didn’t need to lug beach chairs/umbrellas/coolers full of food that you don’t want to eat (e.g. egg salad/soggy hoagies that you got at the Wawa in Philly. gross Nance, why would you always bring that knowing I don’t like it.) Here, there are tables, chairs, and umbrellas set up for you! No schlep needed! Since you park in front of a restaurant, it’s like you eat with your feet in the sand and the tide running between your toes. I definitely prefer that kind to the lugging-of-the-cooler kind. My (Brazilian) mom told me that it’s “typical Sao Luis” to have this kind of sitting/eating arrangement. In Belém or Fortaleza, the beach set up is different which give each North Eastern city its own flair. Kinda like this…lawl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBK__C2UUn0&feature=related 

Something that I’m sure you’re all wondering about: the bathing suits. Yes, world, the name “Brazilian Bikini” does not lie, every bikini here is miniature sized. I like it! A couple weeks ago I went out shopping with my mom and after trying multiple bottoms on, she kept asking for one that showed more and more cheek. I was talking to some other exchange students about this and it’s like a catch 22! Our butts are so white from not wearing a Brazilian bikini, so we don’t want to wear them because you can see (in my case) the change in color from ‘blinding-ly white’ to a few shades darker, ‘white chocolate’ (yes, my all over body coloration is pale, fml). With that being said, of course I continue to wear mine, in the hopes of transforming ‘white chocolate’ to ‘cafe au lait (with a lot of lait).’ I’ve also found that people are more comfortable with their bodies. In my travels through Europe, I found the same thing. Moms wear the same size bikini as me (whether or not they should). Men wear speedos with the plan to tan their thighs. No one obsesses over their bodies like I’ve seen so many people at home do. Side note: I’ve also noticed that between same-sex friends, things are also more lax. Girls get un/dressed in front of each other, shower together, sleep together. I guess it’s like, I mean I’ve seen my boobs, how much different are yours from mine? It’s refreshing in a way to see people so comfortable with their bodies that they are willing to change their clothes without any problems. Okay, now back on track. Here is a picture of a Brazilian bikini. 

If this were the US, this woman would not  be wearing this bathing suit. But, because she’s comfortable with her body, the people around are comfortable with their bodies, there is no issue of, “Does this make my butt look big?” 

Food. I mentioned earlier about caranguejo, crab. Yummmm, jawn is poppin. It’s simply steamed crab, but really good. What I found amusing about eating my crab, was the way to crack the shell. Oh no, of course you don’t use a normal silver shell cracker, you use a wooden board and stick. 

I know, LOL, right?! Of course mid meal, I had to start making music with my paddle and board, who wouldnt? Note behind the wooden jawn, the bottle of “Jesus.” I finished it before taking this picture, but it’s pink soda that you can ONLY get in Maranhao. It’s really good. Like 1% has the taste of toothpaste, but still num num material. My favorite part about it is the name, Jesus. When people find out I’m an exchange student, one of their first questions is, “Do you like Jesus?” LOL, love him, bffaeae. 

I know I’ve spoken about the music of the NE is some other posts, forró. It’s such a jam, like really, so good to dance to. Anyway, at the beach, for every bar/ restaurant area, there is one nice guy who opens the back of their car, puts on  Aviões do Forró (a famous band), and allows everyone on the beach to enjoy! If you don’t like forró (1. G-d bless you 2. That’s the pits, because that’s the only thing you hear in the NE) you might find it annoying, but because nordestinos are basically bred to be able to dance/enjoy forró, there usually aren’t any complaints. 

You will frequently hear people talk about theircasas da praia or beach houses. Ludovicenses (people who are from Sao Luis) might live in Renacença, my neighborhood, but have a casa da praia in Olho d’Agua or Araçagi. The houses that adorn the edge of the beaches are usually people’s casas da praia. 

Other things about the beach? It’s beautiful! Every 3/4 of a mile, there would be a ridge that would break out into the sand, and it just created a beautiful landscape. There were some people kitesurfing, which looks SO much fun. When I was in Marseille last year, we went windsurfing and it was SO much fun! Super difficult, but once you got the hang of it, it felt like you were flying! Maybe I’ll try it? My insurance down here doesn’t cover ‘extreme sports’ (tits) so I’ll have to be 1. super safe or 2. not participate. #1 plzzzz. 

And here are just some random (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj6Gz2B_tok fast forward to 17 seconds and 42 seconds) pictures from my day at the beach!  

Bad pic, wait, really really bad pic of me, but my brother Leo. Love him!! 

I wasn’t ready! My brother Leonardo. 

Random guy carrying some fruit etc. 

Ah, adoro a praia!!

xoxo, 

kf

Coisas Bobas do Brasil pt 2

I have spent the past week observing people/things to make sure that I didn’t forget anything. I decided to start a list of everything, just so I’d be sure to remember the odd, the shocking, and sometimes the straight up silly. Vamo-la, parte 2. 

1. I think that the mentality in the US during middle school is, “Well you’re already sort of awkward/not at your peak of physical beauty, why not add on a couple “bad” more things? e.g. acne, glasses, awkward body figure, and BRACES.” Here, someone skipped that memo and I have seen more adults with braces than teenagers (unfortunate, né?). I went out dancing one night and a boy approached me. Blah blah blah, we started talking, and he asked how old I was, 18, I asked how old he was, 20. Wait, 20!?!?! You’re 20 and you have braces?! I would’ve guessed he was maybe 17/18, but 20? Why not put this “biddie repellents” on closer to puberty than adulthood?! A friend of mine is about to graduate high school and said that next year, when he enters college, he will be getting braces…and glasses…Should I make a PSA saying that college is for being ‘sexayyy’ and middle school is for being a ‘rookayyy.’ People will thank me later… 

2. I don’t know if this is a country wide phenomenon (I’ll go bold and say state-wide, I’ll have to do some thorough research in this one…) but the toilets are…different. Instead of dropping the toilet paper in the toilet after your, ahem, business, you put it in the sealed trashcan next to the toilet.  I guess the country was built on poor sewage systems? Also, in order to remove all of the debris, you must hold down the handle of the toilet for longer than the ‘normal, US holding-toilet-handle-down-for.’ I, of course, learned that you do not put the toilet paper in the toilet nor do you flush for less than 3 seconds, the hard way. It was my first week of school and during the break (when everyone uses the bathroom), I like the rest of the girls, used the bathroom. After flushing, the water still resembled lemonade more than Evian. When I stepped out of the stall and the girl who was using it after me saw, there was an awkward, “Ew.” OMD [oh meu deus!] perfect Mean Girl time! Remember when the Plastics are in Regina’s room and they’re all saying things that they don’t like about themselves, 

Karen: God. My hips are huge! 

Gretchen: Oh please. I hate my calves. 
Regina: At least you guys can wear halters. I’ve got man shoulders. 
Cady: [voiceover] I used to think there was just fat and skinny. But apparently there’s lots of things that can be wrong on your body. 
Gretchen: My hairline is so weird. 
Regina: My pores are huge. 
Karen: My nail beds suck. 
[pause. All look at Cady] 
Cady: I have really bad breath in the morning.  

Ok, so after Cady says, “I have really bad breath in the morning.” Karen says, “Ew.” <— is the look I got after I walked out of the bathroom. Not the best first impression. I’m interested in the fact that some people have not mastered the proper disposal/flushing technique. Now, when Iwalk into a bathroom stall and see that someone didn’t take the proper precautions, I’m like, “Neophyteeeeee. Get with the program here!!” 

3. In learning a language, you have to learn the grammar etc, claro, but also the tone/rhythm of the speakers. It makes you sound more authentic and gives you a grool personality change. Something I’ve noticed is that (usually) when men are talking and want to refute a point, their voice will rise about eight octaves to communicate their unhappiness with what you said. My brothers do it ALL the time. I’ve called them out a couple of times and they just laughed. It’s really amusing because you’re not expecting it, so just sounds silly. I haven’t been able to find a good video of this, so imagine my change in voice when I imitate my mom aka SPV. “Oh mah gawd…”

4. I’ve been told that Brasilian men tend to like thicker women (no wonder my host mom wants me to eat enough food for a small African tribe at lunchtime). Because woman are proud to show their robust figures, many choose to walk around displaying their midriffs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36EBi5tQQrg Fast forward to about 1:15, this is the norm. I mean, sometimes it’s grool, if there is a gatinha walking down the street, tá, seeing a little tomach is acceptable. But, like this episode of Curb shows us, a little midriff goes a long way! Sometimes I want to lend my shirt/bookbag/any extra fabric that is on my person. I can’t decide if 1. people like showing their stomachs 2. do it because it’s hot outside (yeah, I schvitz like no other, but I still cover it up) 3. It’s the fashion? (Who hasn’t watched What Not to Wear, where Stacy and Clinton say that not every article of clothing that is “in fashion” is right for your body!?) 4. People want to show the authority who’s boss and are being rebellious 5. If people just wear clothes for a long time until they get too small and instead of buying new clothes, they decide to ….help the environment? and wear ones that don’t fit. I think this question is going to stay unanswered, I mean, I don’t have that much  chutzpah to ask someone… lawl. 

5. Cheating! I wish that the PC Community Council could come down here and see what the average day is like. Since I don’t really take any tests, I don’t know if this statement stretches beyond homework etc, but ai meu deus! Everyone copies each other’s homework, classwork, basically any graded thing. For the most part, I kept a pretty clean academic record, so to come down here and see this amount of copying, it’s shocking! I always think about the only schmuck who does his homework, who by peer pressure (damn PP, gets you every time…) is forced to give up their work and give it to someone else! Who will then give it to someone else and someone else and someone else and the chain is started. Ok, I do have to admit…my one friend asked me to help her with her Spanish homework, which I decided to just do for her (I can’t help it! I like conjugating verbs!!…oh, did i just say that out loud? tits, embarrassing….) which she ended up giving to the rest of the class to copy etc. The only reason I 1% justify that is because it’s helping me not to forget my Spanish! Lawl, if my dad were to read that, he’d pull a classic Turk and struggle at lifting his arm and say, “I’d like to lift my arm, but it’s so weak!” Referring to my excuse. Oh Turk, estou com saudades de voce!! I do find it interesting that the teachers don’t notice that everyone has the same answers, same length, same everything. I don’t know how to necessarily go about handling the situation, probably because it’s out of my control. But lawl, it’d be so funny if Community Council came down here and showed some punks who’s boss. Wait, tits, I’m one of those punks…fail, Kelsey!! 

I think this is everything. I’m sure as time goes on, the silliness will continue, my laughter will continue, and of course, my communication to the 215 and beyond with continue. 

k, beijos!

xoxo, kf 

P.S. I don’t think it’s any secret that I like to “bust a move” on the dance floor (Ok, in the US, in the US!! Here is doesn’t count! I can’t help it that I’m not naturally able to shake my b00t@yyy) and this music has become my new jam music. It’s called Funk, originated in the favelas of Rio, and is SO good. The lyrics are really dirty etc, but lucky for me, I don’t understand/ if I did understand, I’d prob like it more. lolol http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pq3g3Q7jKM&feature=related divirta-se!!