Today marks 3 months that I have arrived here. Here is a
recap of what I have been up to for the past month.
The first weekend I had an excursion with my program where
we went to Agua Morros, which is a hot spring hotel. We spent the weekend there
just relaxing, and eating our hearts out. The following week my class took a
field trip to Fortaleza de São Joao da Ponta Grossa, which is a fort in the
north of the island created by the Portuguese to stop the Spanish from using
the channel between the continent and the island. After we visited the fortress
we spend some time on the praia (beach) that is next to fort and then returned
back to center. The following day me and one of the other student that is
studying here with me went to a favela on the continent to start our day of
volunteer work. There we are showing videos to the kids and afterwards we talk
about what they learned, as they are movies that have life values in them. The
first movie we showed was Pocahontas, and talked about how it doesn’t matter of
someone’s color of skin, background, or even culture, we all are humans. Upon
returning home I was invited to a futebol game of Flumenese and Vasco da Gama,
which are two rival teams from Rio, who were playing in the stadium near my
house.
The following weekend was full of events as well. Saturday I
spent the day in Blumenau, which is a city on the continent of Brasil with a
rich heritage of German decent, even until the 40’s (WII) there only spoke
German there, and even today you can still here German from the locals. There
we visited some museums that talked about their heritage. We also went to the
Villa Germanica, which is where the World’s 2nd biggest Oktoberfest
is held every year. After we went to the Oktoberfest parade. It was quite an
experience, as during the parade basically everyone that was participating in
the parade was drinking, and the floats all had Tubs of beer for the
participants. After seeing some of the parade I headed back with the other
student who was not going to stay for the Oktoberfest festivities that were
going to be held that night. That night I returned back to Floripa and went to
festival with some of my friends that study at UFSC (which is the federal
university here). I spent the Sunday just relaxing as from all the traveling I
had done I was in need of day off.
On Monday we did not have school, since it was a holiday for
professors. So instead me and two other students with my program went and took
a trail called Costa Santinho, which starts on praia Santinho and ends on praia
Moçambique. It was a beautiful trail, and we even saw some old inscribitions
from natives that use to live on the island 1,000 years ago. On Wednesday since
it was not such a nice day outside, me and one of the other students in my
program hopped on some buses and just kind of took a tour of the
island/surrounding area. On Friday began on my adventures to Blumenau again,
this time though was to go and participate in the festivities of Oktoberfest. I
stayed the weekend with one of my friend’s family, along with two other friends
of mine. It was an experience as her family had strong German heritage, that when
I first arrived at the house I was greeted in German. During the whole weekend
we ended up going between Portuguese, German, and some English, I even learned
some German words (though nothing to extensive). Because of her families
heritage though I was able to use her mom’s German outfit since she was not
going to Oktoberfest. At Oktoberfest it was quite interesting as the music was
in Português, with a German kind of flare. Friday night there were more people
that were from Blumenau, so it was common to see people dressed in typical
German costumes. On Saturday night though it there was way more people and it
was more people from other cities who were visiting for the festivities. On
Sunday since we woke up early to head back to Floripa and it was a beautiful
day out we decided to go to beach. Though we ended up getting ahold of a friend
and going to a churrasco/pool get together.
Tuesday my class had another field trip. This time though
was to an indigenous village that exists here in Santa Catarina. It was such an
amazing experience, and it in a sense took me back to when I was in Ecuador,
just how simple their life was, but how they were so open and friendly.
Wednesday my family and I went out for pizza to celebrate my host mom’s
birthday. It was so good, especially the pizza dulce (sweet pizza). For the
weekend I went to a costume party that was hosted by a major at UFSC. Then I
Sunday I went to Jurêre International with one of friends and her family. We
ended up spending the whole day there just taking in some rays, sleeping, and
enjoying the beautiful weather outside.
On Tuesday one of my classes, yet again had a field trip.
This time we went to Portobelo Island, which was established in the 1990’s as a
place that is for Ecotourism. Meaning that only a limited amount of people can
visit the island everyday, and that everything they do there is to preserve the
natural wildlife that exists on the island. The island itself was so
breathtaking and it was quite incredible what they were doing with the island,
and how they preserved it. The next day I spent the entire day at Jurêre, this
time with some aunts that were visiting from the West part of Santa Catarina.
When we finally returned home, after about 6 or so hours at the beach, my whole
family went out for dinner to a restaurant called Boka’s. There they are known for having good fried
shrimp, which I cannot argue with, it was quite good. The next day after my
class I met up with my aunts, and this time we went shopping for the entire
day. It was quite fun, though seeing the prices on all the clothes was quite a
shock, as it cost way more then it does in the USA. On Friday my family went
out to celebrate one my aunts birthdays. We ended up going to an all you can
eat pizzeria, again my favorite pizza was the pizza dulce. On Saturday night I
ended up going to a birthday party celebration with my host mom and sister for
one of my host dad’s aunt. Then Today (Sunday) I went to a classic futebol game
between Avaí and Figueirense. It was such a great experience, the entire
stadium was packed full, and the competiveness was interesting to see.
For the upcoming month, I have not planned anything in
particular yet, we will see what comes up. As for my language acquisition, it
is coming along quite well. There are still many things that I must learn, but
I am able to get around without problems, and I can understand a good majority
of conversations.
That is about all I have for now. Until next time.
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