Say my name

 

I like my name; "Kristin Swenson" --it kind of rythmes, I think it sounds happy, and my parents gave it to me.  Its cute, but hard for folks to here to say. Kreeshc-tein they say, like they are trying real hard and I know it isn't easy. I also know its impossible to remember something that you have no mental framework for. I know it is embarrassing not to know someone's name and that people tend to fill in the blanks. A Chinese guy whose name sounded to me like "Shit, yeah!" and who went by "Jay" taught me this. Our new teacher asked me if I every go by "Cris." I don't, but I could. My Grandma once suggested Kris, and I think it's okay. Carol and I tried it with the guy at our nearby bar-restaurant when he asked our names. "Carol and Cris" we told him. "They both start with 'C'" he informed us. That felt like a win, so I am going to transition to "Cris" and see how it sticks.

Needs met

 

An update on the "what they don't have in Brazil" situation. Turns out, some things things they don't have, they do have. We asked our teacher about baking soda. He said to look near the cleaning supplies and pointed us toward the broom-selling shop on the corner. Sure enough, they had it and we bought it and Carol's shirt is stain-free and she is looking great. Dog toys were harder to find but they too exist here. Carol found a chichi pet store with meat in the food and a selection of dog toys and now Keppy has a ball that floats in the sea. Maple syrup we haven't found. The translation is associated with a urine disease, so we don't ask much but there is a place nearby that serves pancakes (panquecas) on the weekends, so who knows?  Ziplocks probably aren't a thing and we have moved on.

What language is this

 

I noted an interesting milepost on the language learning journey yesterday. I was at the Astrais beach bar when an older couple came up to ask the server if the places behind the bar were for rent. He didn't know and went on. I told them that we had rented a place. They asked how much and about the features. They were from Uruguay and traveling in a motorhome, but liked Matadeiro and were interested in renting a place for a couple of nights. I told them what I knew. A few things seemed hard to communicate, but I'm used to that. I know they speak Spanish in Uruguay but didn't think much about it until the woman described something  using "caliente"  for 'hot" instead of the Portuguese word "quente." I asked her what language were we speaking in. Tuns out they were speaking Spanish and I was speaking Portuguese and I had no idea. They laughed at my surprise and pointed out that we did just fine. I'm not sure whether not knowing what language is being used is a good sign or a bad sign, but it was certainly interesting and made me think differently about language and languages and what it means to communicate.

Acculturation

 

It was cold last night and we wore sweaters up the beach this morning. Carol said it was 15 degrees when she woke up, when we got to the car it was 17, and by the time we returned from class it was 22. These numbers had their own meaning in their own right and I didn't even think to try to covert them. I just knew that 15 was pretty brisk and 22 was super sweet. Its a step. A small step, but a step.

Ode to Matadeiro

 

Matadeiro beach is the kind of place you never want to leave. We will, in just ten days, and it kind of breaks my heart when I think about it. The next place is a much nicer house with equally great beach access but it wont be Matadeiro and I can't imagine loving any place like I love this one. I love the 20 minute walk in from our car. I love the crabs and the tides, the big waves and the small ones; the smell of dope, the surfers, the tourists and the guy who pushes the wheelbarrow up and down; the casual beach bars and all the beach dogs; and I love our little camper of a house, tucked back down the trail, with its capybaras, and crazy chicken birds that make a racket every morning, and even its spiders and bugs.

Community

 

We've had people to the house twice so far. Our teacher, Herbert, and his wife Marta came the first weekend and welcomed us warmly. We hope to see much more of them in the future.  Then we ran into a fellow student from The Language Club and invited him over for a pina colada and cookies. All conversations on our porch, so far, have been in Portuguese and it really matters. We need community if we are going to learn. We need to share stories and ideas, we need to give advice, and get corrected, and to sympathize and explain and connect and we need to do these things in Portuguese. Neither of us knows how to find community in this new place, with this new language. Carol went to a yoga class, we chat with the dog people and vendors on the beach and the guy that is renting us this space and his parents who keep and eye on things, plus we have The Language Club.  That's our community so far, but the intimacy we associate with community isn't happening yet.

Livin' the dream

 

We been here 'living the dream' for a couple of weeks. Today was the first day that felt like it.

 It rained forks and knives (as they say) yesterday and we settled in for a soggy weekend. But it wasn't meant to be. When we woke up, it was cloudy but not raining and we enjoyed a lazy morning, watching birds and taking our time.  Around noon, we walked the three minutes to the beach, and played in the waves, body boarded, and kicked balls for the dog until we were hungry and parched. We bellied up to the nearest beach bar for a seafood and cocktails and once we were full and quite boozed, we walked three minutes back home as the sun set and the light rain moved in. I don't know that today advanced our Portuguese any but it sure brought the stoke, put a little in the tank, and may motivate us to try harder tomorrow. 

Needy needers and their needs

 

Carol and I have been talking a lot about culture, what it means, what ours is, and how it influences  language.  We recognize that we approach our needs with our American brains. That's culture, and it isn't always helpful. We have googled words to try and communicate our needs. We tried to find baking soda to get a rust stain out of Carol's favorite beach shirt, we tried to find maple syrup because we  enjoy eating french toast on the weekends, and we tried to find a dog toy because Keppy's squeaky grapefruit disappeared. Asking for these items has resulted in offers of soda water, puzzled looks, and disappointment. As far as we can tell, these things simply don't exist here. We haven't even tried asking for ziplock bags or wet wipes because there are no words. It's a different culture and some of the things we needed, we don't need anymore. 

The power of love

So often, when I ask someone about their language-learning journey, they reference love.  We bought some presents from a woman in Sao Paulo and when we asked about her English, she said she had gone to Florida with here parents as a teenager and had met a guy at Disney. They hit it off and had short but passionate romance that happened mostly via email and that got her started.

This week, someone having lunch at a Adrianna's overheard Carol and I talking and complemented our English. Turns out the guy is an American and a seasonal local who has spent the past 18 years on Armacao beach. We asked about his Portuguese and he said it wasn't that great for the first 16 years but that he had been dating a Brazilian for the past year and a half and suddenly he could listen in on conversations in Portuguese without having to try.  It's the power of love.

We have our own story. I was not interested at all in learning Portuguese when I met Carol.  In fact, when we started to realize that we shared a dream of living in a non-English speaking place and she mentioned Brazil, I vetoed it. I told her that I just couldn't with the language. I probably could with Spanish and maybe could with French but I couldn't even hear Portuguese and I wished I could, but just no.  She challenged me to at least try and as it turns out, I could and I can. I loved her, and she loved Portuguese, and we both love Brazil and now here we are in love with each other and learning more Portuguese every day and starting to listen in on the conversations of strangers. Its the power of love.