Aho!

I went to a sweat lodge ceremony called a Temazcal. It was hot, and very cramped. I was a little underwhelmed during the ceremony but felt absolutely reborn the next day. During the ceremony they used the word, "Aho" a lot. When a hot rock was passed into the tent, the sweaters would yell "Aho!" when someone would share or sing, "Aho!" when the shaman poured water to create more steam or sprinkled incense to make the rocks sparkle, "Aho! Aho! Aho!" I didn't Aho! myself because I didn't know the word or what it meant. After the ceremony, I asked around. One person said it was something like "amen" but without the connotation of prayer. Someone else said that it had a meaning in between "hello" and "thank you" - a grateful welcoming. I like it.  I will raise my "Aho!" and voice my welcome for what comes at the next one. Kind of a shamanic version of "Thank you sir, may I have another!" Also, Carol has returned to me, "Aho!"

Ode to Açores

The time has almost come to leave this amazing place, Açores and our little house next to the sea. As with Matedeiro, we didn't like it at first and couldn't wait for it to be over and now we hate to leave. We have loved this house. The big windows where we watched the sun and the moon rise and saw dolphins swimming and monkeys climbing. It will feel empty to leave the constant sound of the sea and lose this intimacy with the tide and the waves. We will miss walking to the little town across the bay, with the salty fishermen mending their nets and dogs napping in the shade of wet boats. We did not have enough time to uncover all of the secrets in the rocks here, the art, the coral, the sacred things. We didn't lie in the hammocks enough, or take enough walks by moonlight, or swim enough in the sea. There wasn't enough time to take it all in and there never could be. Maybe the thing I will cherish most about Açores will be the comfort that this house, and this beach, and this ocean brough me while Carol was away. I'm sad that she missed out on a month here. I'm glad she is coming back tomorrow and that she will get to spend one last night in this little blue and white house, on the corner, by the sea.

The second shortest day

 

Today marked the beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year. It's a little bit of a rip off to have the shortest day again so soon, but I saw a glorious sunrise when I woke up at 7 this morning and the colors were great when I walked the dog at 4:30 this afternoon (pictured).  Also, I'm only a day in, but I'm digging the winter so far. Pineapples were a buck a piece at our local fruit mart; The waves are getting huge and the ocean sounds fantastic; I saw my first toucan in the wild; and I got invited to go on a hike. Apparently the hiking is good this time of year because the mosquitos and snakes are controlled and the temps are just right. My most recent winter in Salt Lake was really grand, with the record breaking snow and all, but I'm looking to whatever this second winter has to offer.

Altered minds

 

We've only been here a few months, but I've already been invited to a handful of consciousness expanding events. I don't know if it is part of the broader Brazilian culture, or more specific to this island, but I have witnessed the fruits of nature being used to feed more than just the body. The most tame of the substances is probably cacao, which will give you a lot of energy; the strongest is probably ayahuasca, which may give you a new life. I went to a gathering this weekend that was somewhere in the middle. We used a locally grown fungus and found comfortable places to go where the medicine took us. I went into the trees and watched each one move in it's own way and within each tree I saw each leaf move in its own way, and the movement was ordered and chaotic and timeless and fleeting. Then I went to the ocean and saw the water form into waves, each immutable, with its own shape and power and grace and when the waves broke they were gone and the water went back into the sea. I hope to remember the things I learned and I hope they planted a seed in me, that will grow into a person who is a little less judge-y and a little more free. 

Stormin' mormons

It is sad to have Carol 6000 miles away, but the deep sense of darkness that I have been experiencing was actually my first tropical storm. I didn't even know. Thing got real dark, the power was spotty and everything just kind of felt heavy. I missed Carol. I barely went outside and Keppy was cool with it. We cuddled in and missed Carol. The lady that owns the house checked in a couple of times. I assured her that Carol would be back soon and that I was fine. Then the sun came out and I went out to the beach and saw that things were significantly changed. I turned on the news and learned that Santa Catarina, the state that I am in, was digging out from flooding caused by a cyclone. Who knew? According to the internet, everybody knew. The news has been full of it and folks on twitter were concerned. It's a good lesson for me to connect during the work week. I should at least check the news every day. On the bright side, Carol's visa seems to be going through as planned and I won't need to spend many more cyclones oblivious and alone. 

Aint no sunshine

 

Like the old song says, ain't no sunshine when she's gone - it's not warm when she's away - ain't no sunshine when she is gone - only darkness everyday. It's so true. My sweet Carol has been in the US for 16 days and it's like the lights went out, winter is approaching and nights are dark and really long. Not metaphorically, but actually -- that's what is happening. Plus it's been raining hard for four days and even the dog doesn't want to go outside. I think it might be cozy, if I had my Little One but as it is, ain't no sunshine and ain't no fun. 

Happy Holidãos

Today was Monday. At the beginning of class, the teacher asked how my weekend was and then he corrected himself and asked how my "holiday" was. Interestingly, when he said the word for holiday he added an "ão" sound to the end of the word. He said feriadão instead of feriado.  Adding ão was an indication of a bigger, better holiday. I asked what was up and he explained that when a holiday falls on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday it is just a regular holiday, a feriado, you get your day off and you are grateful. But, when a holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, then it can provide a bridge to the weekend. Brazilians often get the intervening day off, making it a four-day weekend - a feriadão. This happened last week with the Corpus Christi holiday on Thursday. I missed it completely because I'm not Brazilian and I didn't even know. I'm making up for it though. Our 4th of July holiday is coming up on a Tuesday. I'm going to make like a Brazilian, take the Monday off, and have myself a happy holidão. 

We eat with our hands

Someone mentioned to us that Brazilians largely don't eat with their hands. Since hearing this, Carol and I have observed watermelon and pizza eaten with forks and knives and french-fries eaten with toothpicks. Sometimes our cultural observations are wrong so we checked with our friends Herbert and Martha. They confirmed that while there is variation, Brazilians generally don't like to touch their food. I had the opportunity to observe the full spectrum of finger-food-eating today. Four friends had finished a hike and were grabbing a snack at a nearby bar. They ordered two pastries and cut them into four pieces. One lady cut her piece into smaller pieces which she ate with a fork - civilized. Two ladies used the not-quite-paper napkins from the table to hold theirs - and now I know what the not-quite-paper napkins are for. The forth lady was a little loud, chatting with me, drinking beer, and feeding pastries to the dogs. That lady tore pieces of the pastry off and ate them with her greasy fingers - American style. It does seem a little primitive, seeing it from the outside, and a good reminder to be a little more cultured with our finger foods moving forward.

Be like Bernie

We went out to dinner the other night with a mixed group of Brazilians and American ex-pats. An ex-pat named Nathaniel told a story about his buddy, Bernie. Nathaniel and Bernie met in Brazil learning Portuguese a few years back. Nathaniel was a serious student, building his vocabulary and focused on grammar. Bernie wasn't as focused but really liked to party. The two went out one night and while Nathaniel struggled to understand and be understood, Bernie was meeting people and having a gay old time. The difference, Nathaniel thinks, was that Bernie capitalized on the tone and cadence of the language. He elongated his vowels, exaggerated his syllables, and sang out the few words that he knew with gusto. The Brazilians appreciated his effort and matched his tone and enthusiasm. They communicated fine. I'm pretty sure Nathaniel shared this story because he watched me struggle with the language that night. It was a good reminder to relax a little and have fun some fun, get out of my linguistic shell and communicate in a different way. Be like Bernie.

The bank

 

When it comes to speaking in Portuguese, Carol does a lot of our talking, so I was pretty nervous about going to the bank by myself. I needed to go to a particular bank, pay a fee and get a receipt. Once I got to the bank I saw an open area with a bunch of ATMS on the left and a separate room with tellers on the right. I entered a revolving door to go into the room but a quarter turn in, the revolving door locked and lights started flashing. An armed guard opened the door and walked me back through to the other side, saying something about my purse. A nice guy on the other side asked what I was there for. I told him I needed to pay a fee and get a receipt. He understood, gave me a slip of paper and explained that I couldn't take anything metal through the door. So, I passed my purse through a hole and the man held onto my little knife because it is illegal to bring a knife into a bank in Brazil.  I made it through to a teller and learned that my paperwork had expired. I would need to go back to the airport, get my paperwork updated  and return to the bank, which I did, but it wasn't without challenge. Maybe I will share those challenges another day. It's always a process.

Rules of the road

The driving here has taken a little getting used to. Our Brazilian friends recommend thinking of the rules of the road as "suggestions." Seems right. The exception is the "monitored electronically" signs, if you speed past one of those, lights will flash  and a ticket will come via email (true story). Everything else though -- stop signs, speed limits, center lines, flashing lights -- merely suggestions. It works out. In fact, the only real rule of the road is that you have to work it out. If you need to do 30 in a 50, no one honks, they slow down or go around (no need to wait for a passing lane). If you need to accommodate a cow or a bicycle with multiple passengers, two lanes can become three. To make a left in traffic, you just push in. They expect it and will give you a thumbs up and then you will give them a thumbs up. It's super civil. But if you hesitate, then you are a menace and they start to honk. Carol is a great Brazilian driver, I still get honked at. But, Carol was the one to "discover" the electronic monitoring signs and she is currently in the US, being a menace and getting honked at. 

The dogs of Matadeiro

 

Our good boy doesn't really dig the dog scene at the current place. There are some resident dogs, but he hasn't found anyone to pal around with yet- and no one to hump. So we were all excited to visit the very doggy Matedeiro last weekend. It didn't disappoint. Jowls of Fury was quiet as we approached but we called, "hey, Jowlsy" and he responded with some slobbery rage. When we crested the hill where you can first see the surfers, Scruff-A-Luff-A-Gus showed up out of nowhere. Keppy knew him in an instant and they tore off  down the hill, around the rocks and across the sand. After things with Scruff played out, we moved on down the beach in search of more action. We didn't see the dogs we were looking for on the first pass but on our way back, luck was with us. We saw the One Who Bared His Teeth and then we saw the wheelbarrow guy and then Sandy Patty came out from behind a wall. The real Sandy Patty, Kepner's very best girlfriend. It was a spirited reunion filled with chasing and wrestling and a tiny bit of humping that got shut down fast and athletic moves and in the end, tired, smiling dogs. Sometimes things are as good as you remember. This was one of those times.

Carol picked the Black lady

During a slightly blotto phase of our going away party, Carol went to the fridge for some coconut water. She pulled out the carton, looked at it seriously and said, "I picked the Black lady." 

"Huh?"

"At the store, I picked the Black lady to bring home." Turns out, the cartons of Itapoã coconut water have different pictures on them, male/female, black/white. As Carol reached for a carton, she recognized there was a choice. She looked at the pictures, considered the people, and she made a conscious decision about who to bring home. She picked the black lady. I'm glad she told me. We make choices with our money every day. I want to be thoughtful in making those choices. I'm not sure if this is a Brazilian thing or not, but I'm going to start noticing.

Talking about toucans

Carol came home from her yoga class tonight and said one of the other yogis had showed her a picture of six toucans sitting in a tree on a nearby hill. This is cool for so many reasons. It's cool that Carol found a yoga class that she likes. The fact that other students are engaging with her and inviting her in is really cool. I like to think it would happen to an estrangeira just learning English in Utah, say, but I'm not sure it would. The fact that she followed the conversation and came home telling me stories about what was said is definitely cool and shows that language is being learned. It is also freaking cool that we are living in a place where toucans sit in the trees. There are some resident macaws that hang around in town and fly screaming over the house sometimes, but the toucans are wild, they legitimately live here, and you can't get much cooler than that. 

The wash

Turns out, our brains store information in categories. It's true. I measured it in graduate school. For what it's worth, if you read the word "animal" you will be faster to recognize the word  "aardvark" than if you had read the word "vegetable. This organization by category helps us think. Trick is, the categories are subjective. Living in a foreign country impacts thinking, partly because the categories get rearranged.  Like the way we sort the wash. Here, it isn't by colors or whites or towels or delicates. Our choices include cotton, synthetic, or wool. We're fine with thinking about the laundry in this way but it isn't how our American brains do the sorting. Furthermore, although we have googled it, neither of us knows if we should choose the coat hanger or the shirt with the clock in the armpit for the drying cycle. Just constantly scratching our heads...

If you leave your phone in an uber

 Some do's and don'ts for if you leave a phone in an Uber in Brazil:

• Don't use Uber's "have the driver call you" option - if your phone is in the Uber, you can't take the call, even if they try to call, which they won't.
• Don't enter your wife's number after selecting Uber's "driver didn't call me back" option - its a foreign number, they won't be able to call it, even if they try, which they won't.
• Don't use Uber's "someone else left something, please contact this number" option, even if you have a Brazilian number to enter because no one will call. Just forget about handling this through Uber.
• Do find the phone using whatever "track my phone" app is available.
• Do use the app to turn off all the functionality for the phone. It will make you feel better.
• Don't keep calling the phone, its on silent, nobody is going to hear it, and watching the battery deplete will stress you out.
• Don't go the the drivers house, even if you see the phone stop in a residential area for the night.   You are in Brazil, cars and residences are locked behind gates and nothing good is going to come of creeping around the neighborhoods at night.
• Do put a personalized message on the dial pad so when the phone wakes up, it shows your message ("MAGNUS, Whatsapp Carol [## #### ####] $$$$! 😁👍🙌".)
• Do use the 5-minute ring option to turn the sound on, show the message, and make the phone ring for five minutes or until someone pushes a button to stop it.
• Don't be surprised 36 seconds into the ringing when the ringing stops. Soon, the driver will contact you through Whatsapp and you can work out how to have the phone returned.
• Do tip the driver!

It's not like we are dumb

 

Carol and I are of average intelligence back home, but here we are kind of dumb. We do dumb things like throw toilet paper in the toilet. Clearly, and as every potty-trained Brazilian knows, if it doesn't come out of your body, it doesn't belong in the toilet. There are signs up sometimes, in Portuguese of course, but dumb Americans like us still come around clogging up the pipes and causing trouble. We have also been known to get lost looking for the first floor (the ground floor is on the ground and the first floor is up one, genius) and we once gummed things up in a parking garage (you are supposed to pay before you get back in your car, der). So, it's not like we are dumb but we are definitely culturally under-developed, and it makes us do dumb things, and we apologize a lot, and we do feel dumb sometimes.

Six year wish

 

Six years ago, the idea of setting our sights Brazil was being considered and we went to check it out. Carol found three very different places for us to try, Rio De Janeiro, the island of Florianopolis, and and an interior town close to a national park called Praia Grande. The picture is from Praia Grande. We checked out the city life, the salt life, and the rural life. We appreciated the differences but were taken by the similarities. The churrasco, street art, stray dogs, motorcycles and make shift soccer fields were shared across the places we visited. Maybe it was because we were able to triangulate the three different perspectives, but it seems like we were able to get a taste of Brazilian culture on that trip. We opted for the salt life and we are grateful everyday for this opportunity to soak it in. 

Age matters

 

A young guy in our class asked if we really think age matters when learning a language. Yes, junior, it fuckin' matters. The old dogs/new tricks thing is real. It's an overstatement, sure, but there is a reason the expression evolved. Babies learn language by merely existing in a speaking world. We have a teacher who gained fluency by playing American video games when he was a kid. Are you kidding me? Carol and I are reasonably smart, highly motivated, and we study hard. We have taken classes for years, read books, studied verbs, made Brazilian friends, listened to hours of language CDs, quizzed each other regularly, and spent the past 7 weeks living in Brazil doing everything we can to get a grasp on this language. We are slowly getting there, but we are far, far, from fluent. Learning a new language gets more difficult with every year that passes and don't let anyone tell you differently.  

Immerson

 

We say we are learning Portuguese through immersion, but that's largely not true. We are in the water but we aren't under it. All the signs we see are in Portuguese and the labels on our food and the media we consume. But the truth is, we can get by pretty well with the limited language that we have and mostly we speak in English. Last weekend, when the new car went belly-up, we got immersed. I was googling about tow trucks in Brazil and the whole mechanic process. Carol was googling words we have never studied in class, like insurance claim. When it came time to communicate, it took both of us and all of our effort. I learned to swim through the "sink or swim" method back in the 70s. It was pretty stressful. Language immersion feels the same. 

Vira-lata

People ask us about Keppy's "race." We thought it was strange at first because we think of it differently but the words for race and breed are the same here, "raça." When we say we don't know his raça, people respond with words we don't understand. 

Vira-lata means "turn can" and it's slang for street dog. It can also mean mutt. Brazilian vira-lata are usually small to medium sized, wiry, and often brindled. Keppy is bigger, more buff, and spotted. Turns out the words for spotted and buff are the same here too, "malhado." So, people say he is a vira-lata malhado. Since we learned this term we use it whenever we get a chance. It rolls off the tongue, usually gets a courtesy laugh and knowing this piece of language helps us fit in little better - and every little bit helps. 

We bought this car

We bought this car. Carol did the work.  No one at the car shop spoke English. No one in the inspection station, no one from the insurance agency, no one at the repair shop, no one at the notary, spoke English. It was a complicated, bureaucratic, learning event with just one breaking point which happened at a cartório in the middle of a long day. The first cartório was closed, the second was hard to find and the driving was stressful including stopped traffic because of a cow in the road. Once she got parked (difficult) and found the place (not what you'd think) there was a kiosk which provided a real life multiple-choice language test in order to get a number to get in line. She passed the test and got the number. Everything seemed to be on track when the lady asked the names of her parents, and then asked her to prove it. Turns out, you have to show a birth certificate to buy a car in Brazil. When she texted me she was crying in the car in the parking garage, calling everyone fuckers. You have to be tough to buy a car around here. You also have to have a little help, you have to be smart, and you better be pretty damn good at Portuguese.

Ceremonial ceremonies

 

The first time we went to a cultural ceremony in Brazil it was Candomblé in Salvador, Bahia. The guy told us, in Portuguese, what to wear. It was very important to not dress in black. We should not dress in black. He said "dress" and "black" a lot and we knew those words and that's what we did. It was awkward for everybody, two white people dressed in black in a roomful of Black people dressed in white. We didn't understand a word of the ceremony, but we did throw popcorn, and Carol got spun into a trance. So we were able to participate, but it wasn't pretty.  

The most recent ceremony was a cacao ceremony over the weekend. We followed the instructions and made it to the fire more-or-less on time, with food to share, dressed appropriately, and with most of the right things, although we did forget the cups for the cacao. While we were there we meditated, set intentions, drank the medicine from borrowed paper cups, listened to prayers, and participated in the music. There are benchmarks along the way and things are improving.

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. 

On our way

We've  done it. We packed up two suitcases each, got the dog cleared for international travel, and started a new chapter in Santa Catarina Brazil. The goals are to live a different way, engage in a new land with a  new culture, and learn Portuguese. We have spent six years learning Portuguese through lessons, tutoring, courses, and books. To be honest, it hasn't gone that well, especially for me. Everyone says that it will start happening now that we are living it, but time will tell. This blog is our place to share our progress, the adventure, and what we learn along the way. Stay tuned...

Um vídeo autêntico

 

Clique nela para o vídeo

Este vídeo é minha medida de progresso. Nosso professor nos mandou a receita e eu fiz, na frente da câmera, sem anotações ou roteiro. Eu pronuncio muitas palavras erroneamente, minhas conjugações estão erradas, e eu falo lentamente - mas é autêntico. A receita é fácil e gostosa. Fico feliz em saber onde estou com os portugueses.

Minha primeira aula de idioma em uma universidade!

 

Minha primeira aula de idioma em uma universidade! Parece um grande passo. O que eu espero é aumentar minha disciplina e estudar todos os dias.  

Meu primeiro jogo de palavras

 

Quando eu era criança, adorava brincar com as palavras em inglês. Em julho de 2020, descobri que também adoro brincar com palavras em português.

Tenho que apressar apreçar o carro. 

Esta é uma boa área para uma ária.

Traga um pouco de chá para o xá.

E bom que as jovens aprendam cozer e coser. (kkkkkkkk)

Um incipiente pode estar insipiente.

Eu sei que estou ganhando peso porque eu sinto meu cinto quando me sento.

Existe taxa para a tacha?

Se você vai espiar você expiar.

Em meus planos, eu conserto a casa antes do concerto.

Meu primeiro ensaio

 

O Povo Brasileiro de Darcy Ribeiro - Matriz Tupi

Herbert recomendou que assistíssemos a um documentário do famoso sociólogo Darcy Rebeiro. Usei aquele documentário como tema de meu primeiro ensaio.

Povo de Brasileiro por Darcy Ribeiro

Capítulo Um

O Povo de Brasileiro é um documentário baseado no trabalho da socióloga Darcy Ribeiro. O tema capitulo um foi o Tupinambás Índios, uma de três principais influências sobre a cultura e os genes povo brasileiro moderno. Depois de assistir ao primeiro capítulo da série, pensa-se que capítulos posteriores explorarão as influências africana e europeia.

O filme começou por considerando mudança ao longo de um período de 50 anos. Ele terminou considerando mudança ao longo de um período de 500 anos.  No meio, havia um anacronismo de o Tupinambás povo.  Em muitas formas, eles eram os mesmos 50 anos atas como eram 500 anos passados.

Os Tupi foram descritos como pessoas dedicadas à guerra e à celebração. A sociedade tupi era retratada como um lugar onde as coisas eram compartilhadas, onde música e dança e vinho permeavam trabalha e brincadeira e guerra. Uma sociedade onde os povos cozinhavam e comiam inimigo deles. Imagens de braços, pernas, costelas e entranhas humanas deixaram claro que a comendo homens como comida era literal.

Em formas, eles eram radicalmente diferentes 50 anos atas do que eram 500 anos passados.

Uma grande coleção de fotos, arte, vídeos e música foi usada para mostrar a cultura Tupi. O objetivo desses artefatos era demonstrar que a cultura dos Tupi é parte integrante do cultura brasileira e o sobrevivência do povo.

O ponto principal do capítulo foi que uma proporção da herança da cultura essa existe hoje, tal como o jeitinho brasileiro e celebrações e redes, começou com os índios.  O ponto de essa filme não era a herança de genética, embora esse possa ser o objetivo de outro capítulo.

Gramática Ativa

Em janeiro de 2020 começamos a estudar a Gramática Ativa 2 com Herbert. Foi meu primeiro livro didático e chato, mas bom. Comecei a entender a gramática. 

Indo para a escola

Em novembro de 2019, depois de estudar com Herbert por cerca de um ano, passamos 30 horas em 2 semanas estudando na escola onde Hebert trabalha: "The Language Club".

Foi uma viagem maravilhosa. Levamos meus pais, todos nos divertimos e Carol e eu aprendemos muito.

Subimos para Salvador Bahia depois do fim das aulas, para descansar nas praias e comer moqueca!

Voltamos para os Estados Unidos muito motivados para aprender mais.

Bons Áudio-Livros

Ouvir audiolivros me ajudou muito. Não consigo entender os audio-livros, então não me importo com o assunto. O que torna um audiolivro útil para mim é:

• Mais de sete horas de duração
• Palavras simples
• Gravação clara
• Voz calma de leitura
• Disponível gratuitamente no youtube

Aqui estão alguns dos meus favoritos

Onze Minutos Paulo Coelho

Diário De Um Mago Paulo Coelho

O Silencio das Montanhas Khaled Hosseini 

O Caçador de Pipas Khaled Hosseini

Perdido Em Marte Andy Weir 

O Apanhador de Sonhos Stephen King

A Travessia William P Young

A Cabana William P Young 

Quem Pensa Enriquece Napoleon Hill (Um verdadeiro dorminhoco!)

Onze Minutos - e o grande avanço

 

É difícil para mim ouvir palavras em português. Para ajudar meu ouvido, tenho adormecido ouvindo audiolivros, intermitentemente, nos últimos dois anos.

Em outubro de 2019, li um PDF de livro Onze Minutos do Paulo Coelho enquanto também ouvia o audiolivro no youtube. Em algum momento durante esse tempo, comecei a ouvir palavras individuais. Este foi um grande avanço!

Música

 

Entre a Carol (que ama música) e o Herbert (que ensina com música) estive exposto a muita música. Algumas das minhas canções favoritas para aprender são:

A Paz (Gilberto Gil)

Aquele Abraço (Gilberto Gil) 

Agua de Beber (Astrud Gilberto)

Cachimbo da Paz (Gabriel Pensador)

Carolina (Seu Jorge)

Garota de Ipanema Tom Jobim

O que é? O que é? -(Gonzaguinha)

Pais e Filhos (Legião Urbana )

Só tinha de ser com você (Tom Jobim)

Sorri, Sou Rei (Natiruts)

Vamos Fugir (Skank)

Fico Assim Sem Você Adriana Calcanhotto

Herbert Ribeiro: a virada

 

Decidimos nos dedicar ao estudo do português. Descobrimos que o The Language Club online começou a trabalhar com nosso professor, Herbert Ribeiro. Em nossa primeira sessão, percebemos que não havíamos aprendido coisas muito básicas, como o ABC.

Começamos a nos encontrar com Herbert todas as semanas, há dois anos. Isso fez toda a diferença para mim.

A motivação

 Lingüisticamente, a viagem foi um desastre. Eu não entendi nada e ninguém me entendeu. Não importa. No final da viagem gostei de muitas coisas e quis estudar e voltar.

Adorei a arte nas ruas

Amei a comida

Amei as flores

Adorei o jeito brasileiro, tão diferente do nosso

E eu realmente amei como as pessoas eram artísticas

E o quanto eles gostavam de festa