Buzzing Around

2006-09-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

hello everyone,

I am in Curitiba again. I spent the last week in Foz do Iguacu and went to three countries in three days (Brasil, Argentina, Paraguay). I ate several 3 real falafel sandwiches everyday. We went on a toured the worldest largest hydorelectic dam and had two lectures on the environmental situation there. Dam fuck up ecosystems but at the same time provide relatively clean electricity. ITIAPU provides over 90% of Paraguay´s electricity and something like 40% of Brasil´s. Its not a clear issue.

We visited the world´s largest water falls (Iguacu). It was amazing. We had a lecture on the management on the brasilian side. The next day we walked around the argentinian side. These photos are at the brasil side. I got a cool sun burn from wearing a sports bra with a tangtop...

These are all photos that Mike put online.. i am to lazy to put my own on

Those three are from salto morato

This is in curitiba a few weeks ago at a park in the central

This is on the argentian side of the falls and im fashioning my new hair cut...

Here is a group picture that I actually wasnt in. But it has alot of the host families and most of the program kids...

well thats about all for now.. we made pastels in portugues class today that were yummy.. there like fried bread pockets with cheese or meat or veggies.

O ya.. tomorrow is election day ant there has been fireworks going off every so often. It is against the law to sell intoxicating beverages starting at 10 tonight and just about everything is closed. So it will be a good day to catch up on readings and work....

love you all...

2006-09-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

well then,

I have been taking potugues classes. Meu familia e muito legal. Those are going well but it is difficult to study when there is so much to see and do and I hear the language so much of the day.

My family is very nice. They made me vegetarian food and are friendly. They are very busy so they dont take me out, but by the end of the day all i want to do is sleep.

On tuesday we had a capaweara workshop. I dont know if i spelled it or anything else right but it is a dance and form of fighting that was traditionally pacticed by the african slaves of brazil. It was a way to be fit and ready for fighting the people that kept them captive because they passed it as a dance. Muito pessona capaweara dancam. So do a little research about it. It is very physically taxing and looks kind of like break dancing at points.

Last saturday I went to the farmers market and bought this really good organic tofu spread. It was 5 reals (pronounces heails) or around $us2.50. I have eaten at three vegetarian buffets that are really good. They are all less then $R12 or $6US.

I made diner for my family last night with meu amigo Carlin (Cody was suppose to come but had a cold). We spent um hora e vince minutos em supermarkado. The first time I went to a grocerystore about a week ago I was planning on purching to beers some garlic and bananas. After waiting in this line for 15 to 20 min, I got up there and she held up the bananas e garlic and said something really fast. Assuming that she was asking if they were mine I said "sim" and with out realizing it only walked out with the beers. It took me a few days to figure out that in brazil you get your bulk items weighed in the produce section. So.. I knew this yesterday, but spent forever finding tofu and finding coconut milk and trying to understand spices. Eventually Carlin and I got out of the store and back to my families house. All the cooking was going well until we discovered that what I thought was a hot pepper seasoning was actually plain dry red food coloring. After a good laugh we ate the okay non-curry dish with my family and they pretended to like it...

O ya...

31/8-6/9 Marine Lab-Key Largo Florida
8/9-14/9 Salto Morato Reserve Parana
15/9-22/9 Curitiba/Homestay, Parana
23-28/9 Foz do Iguacu, Parana
29-30/9 Curitiba, Parana
1-6/10 Ilha do Cardoso Sao Paulo State
7-8/10 Curitiba
9-11/10 Salvador, Bahia
12-14/10 Federal District of Brasilia
15-18/10 Santarem, Para
19-23/10 Manaus, Amozonas
24-28/10 Pantanal, Mato Grosso
29-31/10 Curitiba, Parana
1-28/11 Internship-- i don´t know where yet
29-5/11 Curitiba--everyone leaves and I stay until...
7/3 Sally flies to Miami

Wow.. it is already going by really fast.
I am excited to get out of the city again. It is easy to get overwellmed when you only understand a tenth of what is said. I fell like curitiba is my home in brazil because we come back here through out the trip. I kind of want to do my internship here, but we will see what is available... blah blah.. you probably care that much how I feel and how confusing life is.

Sal is salt in portugues (pronounced differently then my nick name) but it is funny to see everywhere. I saw a bar called mustange sally. There is alcool e gasoline for carros. My favorite brazilian name is Joao. Its said joe-aww-- with a nose sound. I miss people in the us but i dont really miss EUS (USA). There are elections going on now, it is interesting to see all the posters, stickers,flags, etc. In brasil people can vote at 16 and have to vote after 18. They cannot drive until 18 and can drink at 18 (except no one cares as long as you arent 10).

Anyway. I better go do my homework and stuff

-sal

2006-09-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

Oi!

I work better with bullet points so.. Here is a list of exciting thing that have happened in the last 16 days:

-went snorkeling for the first time ever in the mangrove forests of the keys and the second time i battled five foot waves to see the amazing coral reef below

-got a really bad upset stomach from eating more dairy then I have ever eaten before on the flight to Sao Paulo

-got pooped on my a bird hours after I arrived in Curitiba at the hostel as a good luck charm

-learned lots of random portugese but still cant say very much although i can understand alot

-went drinking legally for the first time

-went swimming, hiking, bird watching, mammal track hunting, talked to community members, etc. in the costal atlantic forests run by the O Boticario foundation. They recieve money from O boticario one of the biggest cosmetic companies in the work that started this foundation that created RPPNs.. um.. I could probably write you 10.000 words about all of this but I will spare you...

-went to this festival called sao franciso that had countyrock weird music that was fun but not very good

-i just met my host family. my sister is renata a 17 year old physical education major at the public university. My other sister is 15 bruina My dad does some work for the government and my mom sells cars. They also own two shoes stores i guess that are named after the kids. I am a little worried about have problems with a lack of freedom. They thought it was strange that I dont live with my parents in the US and etc. We will see. The mom gives me alot of I think dirty looks. I had lunch with them today and I will go out with some of her friends tomorrow and move in with them on monday. It is only 5 days so I am sure it will be wonderful but I dont know if I could do that for an extended period of time

-i am currently at the mall in curitiba that has mcdonalds, levi store, gap, and alot of other american shit

So that is all for now, I will try to put picture on some time.