Dasha says, “Bem-vinda ir Brasil!”

We had class 9-1pm. We walked to the mall and had lunch at the food court. Then part of the class went with Dr. Pace downtown to a old jail that has now been turned into a market and part museum. We walked a while between buildings with shops set up everywhere selling almost  everything. We stopped by a gorgeous Catholic Church (my second time going here) and shopped for about an hour in the Central Market beside the church. We took a taxi home and I was dropped off first. Now I must go eat dinner and finish my studies. Boi noite!

I made breakfast with my roommate. After watching “V” for Vendetta (a movie) a few days ago, we were inspired to make “toad in the hole” for our breakfast meal. I used a slice of flat bread and buttered both sides, then I created a small hole opening in the middle of the slice of bread. I heated up a pan and placed the slice of bread on it. From there I cracked a egg over into the middle of the slice of bread where the hole was. I flipped it over a few times to cook it just enough where the egg was still over easy. It wasn’t perfect looking but it sure was scrumptious! I then hung out with some friends at the mall and beach. After the beach we all went to a restaurant and ordered a kilo of shrimp. We had to de-scale the shrimp ourselves. In Brazil, they seem to never scale the shrimp for you at restaurants. A friend of mine ordered pasta and shrimp for dinner and when he received his meal the shrimp was mixed in with his pasta like an alfredo dish- the shrimp was not de-scaled. The shrimp was seasoned, salted and given a squirt of lime across the pile of shrimp- it was so tasty! We took a taxi home and relaxed the rest of the evening. Boi noite!

We took the wrong bus and hopped on another. We arrived at the school and we all boarded the bus and headed to another beach. The ride was about an hour. We rode in dune buggies, these small vehicles, on the sand dunes. The scenery was amazing. We went sand boarding down a long sand dune slope. We sat on a board, kind of like snow tubing. Some of us tried sand boarding- same concept as snowboarding. I sand boarded from top to the bottom of the sand dune without fall and didn’t fall once after trying it again. Everyone was impressed in my group and some of the group retried after that. We had a large scrumptious lunch. A few of us then paid and road horses non the beach it was a once in a lifetime experience, sort of. We laid in the sun, watched the kite surfers, helped pick out some speedos for two of they guys on our trip and relaxed. Natalie and I walked home after the bus ride back to the school from the beach.

Bon dia! (Good morning!) I had a delicious sweet Brazilian banana. We took the bus and walked a few blocks to school. Today classes were a bit different. We had 2 hours of our anthropology class first. The first hour everyone from the intermediate class even joined us. At 11am we then went to eat out at a Brazilian restaurant for our Portuguese class. The food was amazing. I came home and fell asleep for we a bit because the meal was so heavy and fulfilling. I then woke an hour or so before dinner was served. We had pizza- very tasty but there was no tomato sauce. Instead they use ketchup as the “sauce” kind of like a dip. We are not getting ready to go dancing again tonight at a different place.

Class, 9-1pm. We went to American du Sol (sun), a beach. We soaked up the sun, kicked around a ball, played a bit of fun volleyball, dipped into the ocean, and enjoyed ourselves. I spoke with a Brazilian mother at the beach and she befriended me. I ended up meeting her brother’s wife, her three younger boys, and eating really awesome seafood, that looked like a shrimp. Titus and I sat and talked with them until our group began getting ready to leave. The mother gave me this super cute knitted one piece dress that you wear to the beach over your swim suit. It had holes all through the outfit because of the design. That evening a big part of the group went dancing at a club called, Orbita. It was so much fun. The way we were dancing, anyone could tell that we were Americans- dancing with our hands as well really gave it away. Boi noite!

Class, 9-1pm. We took our anthropology test today. Everyone was writing for a while. We had to write two essay answers after picking 2 or 3 questions we wanted to answer. After class four of us decided to go the the beach and relax since it was such a beautiful sunny day. That evening Natalie and I took a taxi downtown to the outside market to meet with Lucy and Simon. It began raining so we decided to stop by the school where the other part of the group went to interact with some of the Brazilian students. Afterwards everyone went back to the market and one of the teachers or helpers of the school drove us. We saw Lucy and Simon and then were shown around town by the guy from the school, Celio. Everyone met up with us at one point and we all hung out together and listened to live music. Boi noite!

Class, 9-1pm. We were released from class early in anthropology because Dr. Pace had to go pick up his wife, Olga, from the airport. It was overcast and rainy so no one decided to go to the beach. I studied for our second test in anthropology. I fell asleep studying, woke back up and studied more. Some of our friends invited us to a show but through some miscommunication we ended up not meeting up and spending about 46 reais (about 23 US dollars) on riding in a taxi- it was an adventurous experience. Boi noite!

We took the bus and walked a bit. Class, 9-1pm. We walked home after school in the hot sun. After we arrived home and unwind I began reading and fell asleep. When I woke I read more. The wind through the window felt so refreshing. We had dinner with our host family, it was delicious. The meal consisted of a long bun cut half-way through like a hotdog bun and then a sauce mixture with sliced meat (tasted like hotdog meat) was put in the middle of the sliced bread and with dried cheese sprinkled on top. To drink, we had this sweet orange colored drink. After dinner I updated my online blog and re-typed all of my anthropology notes thus far. Boi noite!

Today is my second Sunday that I did not have to wake to an alarm clock, it was nice. I did some required reading for a while and then my roommate woke and we decided to head to the beach. We left for the beach in a taxi and met up with some of our friends. I laid in the sun, observing my surrounding occasionally and trying to read my required book from our anthropology class. After a while our tummies began rumbling so we walked to a small outside food shop. I bought some bread that was the shape of a taco in the states that had cheese in the inside and an acai drink with granola and honey drizzled on top. The drink was sweet and delicious. We took taxi’s home and decided to meet at the school to go to a play- “Alice in Wonderland.” It was very different from any play I’ve been too. It was very interactive! We saw two of our friends from our group their unexpectedly and joined them for the rest of the time. Afterwards we all met up at a sushi/pizza restaurant and ate and hung out. Everyone took taxis home at the end of the night. Boi noite!

The whole group met at the school at 9am to go on our weekend excursion. We had one student missing for a bit but we found her on route to school. We all road in a rented bus and headed to Moho Branco beach, about an hour and a half drive. Also, where Odirene’s beach house is located. I was glad that I was able to finish 99% of my Portuguese homework during the ride. We arrived at Odirene’s beach house, it was gorgeous. We dropped our bags off and road down by the beach. A tour guide walked with us the rest of the way down the beach through huge sand walls where he showed us different shades of sand colors. This was all so amazing. Everyone was flashing their camera lights all through the walk and then also along the sea shore that we came to after the sand walls. I found a handful of beautiful, small shells and rocks that I picked right off the sandy beach before getting back on the bus to Odirene’s beach house. The most delicious meal thus far was devoured at Odirene’s place. We had different kinds of tasty grilled meats, salad, rice with beans and dessert. We were than dropped off at school and part of the group walked with Natalie and I to our house. We then asked Malu to call for a taxi for the five others that came with us so they could ride home. For dinner we had noodle soup in a cup and cheese and meat sand whiches- yummy! Boi noite!