I hate saying goodbye. It was really hard watching our group peel off one by one. I had a blast with the girls and it is hard to know when I'll be seeing everyone again. But on the other hand the food on the airline was once again fantastic. Didn't exactly make up for leaving a lot of friends behind, but it was a nice distractor at least.

Flying in over the Cascades covered in snow was a gorgeous treat and made me remember why I love this place so much. I got on the plane in Salvador in 90 something degree weather and got off in Seattle (still in flip flops and a tank top) in something definitely below freezing.

A shock to the system for sure, but it is good to be back. I will be processing this one for a long time.

I can't believe this is it

Well my mae made it out here for the going away party. I was surprised given that today was Sunday but it was pretty cool to see her there. She did have to miss a lot of evangelizing but I think it was neat that she did it to say bye. PLUS she made me a sweet cross stitched towel to take with me. And told me to visit and bring my family. It was sweet.

Though very much bittersweet at the same time. I had to say goodbye to half of the girls as well as my mae within a few minutes of each other. The house we are staying in feels empty now. i want to see people at home so bad and be home for Christmas but now that life is so stress free here, it is very lovely. And warm. And from what I hear, the same can't be said for home.

From what I can tell from my geometric analysis of my bags vs. my stuff I will not be making it home. Hopefully I'll find some magic pockets somewhere inside them.

Epic papering

I will never take the library for granted again. In attempting to write my paper I realized that nowhere in this city is open all night long. And Frances' mae's house is pretty hard to work in. No table and lots of TV all the time. So we went for it...we rented a room in a pousada and stayed up all night working. I used a bed as my table and she used the mini fridge as hers. Slightly epic. And we still didn't finish until seven pm the next day. Not the greatest for my head but it had to be done all the same. PLUS our pousada was hilarious. Our friend Alison came over to visit and wish us well and they were going to charge us THIRTY reais to come up the stairs to our room. Ridiculous. So we went down instead. We basically stayed up on apples and crackers and then were awake to watch the sun rise on a gorgeous day...from inside a window with prison bars. WE never really got to enjoy that day, though we did make it outside for the sunset. And I did finish my paper, so its all good.

I also got to visit my mae to say hey and pick up some random stuff that I left there the first time around. It was awesome to talk to her because she was super impressed that I had picked up way more Portuguese and we talked about much more than the usual religion and food. We exchanged skype info and I think it will be pretty neat to talk with her and keep up on my Portuguese.

On our attempt to reach the house where the group is staying for the last couple nights, Frances and I got locked of her house becasue the key was with a neighbor who is always at home...and wasn't there this one time. So we arrived with no baggage and have been living in borrowed clothes for a couple days. Luckily tomorrow is the day! We are skipping reentry conversations (oh darn) and going back into the city to pick it up. Having a bit of a family gathering tomorrow which means really good food and saying goodbye. Then on to the airport on Monday! I can't believe it. Happy and sad and excited!

Salvador

The pace of city life is so incredibly different from Porto Seguro that I was in a little shock when I arrived. It is impossible not to notice that we are in the city. Taking the bus home from the neighborhood where our friends live, Frances and I had to get off and switch busses in order not to find ourselves in bad neighborhoods on a sunday night (which equals deserted.) Waiting at the bus stop we ignored the usual beggars and a few drunks until one guy (who was very clearly on something) dug a cobblestone out of the sidewalk and started theatening a popcorn vendor. The vendor responded in kind and soon they were both circling each other partly in the middle of the street and partly on the median. The military police on the other side of the street apparently found conversing in a group and making comments to (female) passerby more important to the security of the area than a potential head bashing fight. Luckily some fellow street dwellers that apparently knew the instigator talked him down after awhile. But it made for fifteen tense minutes.

Oh and even though I am working all day and thus living a rather boring life at the moment, we did manage to stop in and see our Chinese comida a kilo restaurant friend. And all of his fruit selection. Even thoug it had been a month and a half he remembered which candies each of us would like when we paid and dug them out of the jar for us.

Lengthy update time

Four in the morning wake up time for the bus hit me a bit hard. We woke up to the empty room that we had pakced up two hours before and got a taxi to the bus station. All we wanted to do was get on the bus and sleep which turned out ot be more difficult than it sounds. The bus was late. Then we got on and had seats in the front row, only unlike the usual busses that have a door between the driver and passengers this one definitely did not. And the drivers’ choice of music at five in the morning was not conducive to sleep. So we moved to the back of the bus. And then a group of guys got on at the next stop and proceeded to sit right behind us and make loud proclamations about the state of the morning, the amount of fried pastries in their stomachs and other things. It would have been a little funny or at least a little entertaining maybe if my head wasn’t killing me and slepping wasn’t the only thing on my mind. So we moved again to the middle of the bus and after some crying baby episodes, the guys who got on and started playing music on their cell phones, and the section of the road fir which “road” isn’t really an appropriate description, I got some sleep. And woke up to find we were on a standing room only bus. Literally the aisles were packed with people who had gotten on while I was out and had no place to sit. They were squished up against each other and bracing themselves against the seats. What a way to ride the bus for five hours. Oh and the rain and fog were so bad I am fairly sure we were driving blind. I couldn’t see anything out the windows on some stretches. But we made it safe and sound to Ilheus and the airport to commence more waiting. Brazilian pilots delay their planes for overcast skies is the moral of that wait. Three hours of waiting with cloudy skies and a sprinkle or two in the air.

I’m staying with Frances while I’m in Salvador because her host mom’s house is way closer to where we go to work eery day.But we spent Saturday night catching up with a bunch of friends, learning some crazy news about everyone’s projects and chatting away. Sunday we buckled down and worked. A thriller for sure. But there were some great food breaks/conversations over the tops of various laptops.

And now more work. Wow. However last night we did meet Taz and the friend he is traveling with. We went out to where they are staying and met up for dinner and a LOT of fun conversation. We really covered quite a range from fraternity initiation to how to say seal in Danish. And I learned that for a sore throat you should sleep with a garlic clove in your mouth for three days in a row and it will be gone. And maybe stick some up your nose? But talk about morning breath, ew. It was really fun to hang out with them and translate for them to the waiter. Nothing like translating for someone else to make you feel proficient.

In other news, I am leaving in six days, I am NOT done with my paper, and I have NO clean clothes. And a lot of things to do/people to see before I leave the country. Also, I absolutely cannot imagine spending American dollars. I haven’t even seen any in three months (plus reais are way prettier.)

Bye Porto Seguro

Well I am leaving Porto Seguro tomorrow (at five am to be exact.) I can't believe it. Or the fact that I am leaving the country in ten days. I am excited and overwhelmed as I still have a lot of paper writing to accomplish yet the old brain is lagging behind.

Frances and I did discover a super delicious pay by the kilo restaurant with amazing food though. THEY HAVE HUMMUS. In fact it probably is lucky we found it so late because I may well have spent all my money there otherwise. And the dessert! An entire table full. Inlcuding apple cake, cocada (the wonder candy) and tapioca couscous (which may sound odd but might be the best thing ever.)

For the roving AIDS clinic that took us all over town and showed us the ropes Frances and I made dice - out of condoms. (One of the main things they do is pass out condoms to at risk populations.) It was a little difficult explaining the dice over the mirror American thing but he seemed excited. But in an effort to complete our craft we did discover perhaps why no one actually wants to buy condoms. We price checked a bit and found that a lot of them are hidden behind the counters and you have to ask. Also, when we were actually buying them and trying to decide what color to get we could hear the ladies in the store calling us prostitutes (we did buy a few packages, but still.) Not EXACTLY conducive to encouraging future condom purchases. Plus prostitutes here rarely use condoms anyway.

So I'm leaving with a partially done paper, no brain and very little sun. But I still really enjoyed this city. Hopefully someday I'll see it again.

Who really knows

Well yesterday Frances and I saw a spectacularly awkward and incredibly Brazilian display. We were going about our business - taking a break from working (or staring at a computer screen and willing thoughts to appear in sentence form) - with a little walk on the beach. The blue sky was out and it had been awhile so we scurried out. We had no idea what a treat we were in for. We ended up at this little bar/nightclub/beach shack with a good number of tourists (I think there was a mega-bus out front) and just sat down for a little. All of a sudden the announcer/DJ who was making some odd choices already started encouraging everyone to get out of their chairs and exercise. Frances and I laughed (silly us for thinking he was joking) and then looked around and people were starting to get up. In about thirty seconds this man had assembled a sizeable group of followers in front of him on the sand. He was up on the shore and they were all on the edge of the water. Stretching music commenced over the loudspeaker and suddenly a bunch of bathing suit clad people (maybe thirty of them) were stretching on command. After a small break the electronic workout tunes came on and everyone starting marching and arm waving in place. There were a lot of side to side hopping moves, backwards running, and some dance-esque movement for a good period of time. He kept yelling instructions and suddenly they all formed a conga line and were snaking around/working out right at the edge of the water. They then made some tunnels straight out of a good underdog sports movie that everyone subsequently ran through. It was a good time for sure. The best part was that Frances and I appeared to be the only ones who thought anything was out of the ordinary. Everyone else who hadn't joined in all their speedo and bikini glory was just sitting and chatting as if there wasn't an 80's workout video happening behind them.

My head is officially about as tough as rotten bananas. Excellent.

Today however I did meet a traveling pair from Iceland. The guy has been to the U.S. before. First of all he had heard of Oregon (which I usually introduce as the state north of California/Hollywood) and then....he told me that EUGENE was his favorite town in the entire United States. Good old Eugene. An excellent choice.

I am still having a lot of fun here. A lot of hard work but a lot of fun. But it is hard for me (for a variety of reasons) to stay completely focused on being here at times. The holiday decorations going up everywhere remind me of home and I am realizing how hard it is to stay in touch with some people even with the magical wonders of the internet.

But we hung out with our Danish friend (Nicolai/Nick/Taz) again yesterday and found out that he is going to be in Salvador at the same time we are so we are going to show him around. Should be lots of fun.

The rain isn't supposed to stop until next weekend. It is getting a bit old. And I am getting pretty white as my skin hasn't seen the sun in a couple weeks. But we are lucky considering the damage beign done in the south of Brazil due to the rain. There are some pretty scary pictures on the news every night.

Basically the end part of Porto Seguro for me will be...World AIDS Day tomorrow, rain, writing, rain, a little eating now and then and some more writing. And rain.

Rainy Day-nes

Well thank God for Danish people. There is one staying in our hotel for a couple days (he came for the beaches and sun on his way around the world for six months - we had to tell him about the rainy mess he walked into.) But the most important thing was we HUNG OUT. Crazy I know. I haven't just hung out with a member of the male population of this planet since I left the US. It was a much needed breath of fresh air.

Plus, he was an IB kid too. He took a ton of the same classes that Frances and I did, he just happened to take them in Danish and half a world away from us. But it was funny talking about what our Theory of Knowledge classes were like and what our senior papers were about. It was a blast from the past but with a Danish twist. We graduated the same year but he has been working and traveling the world. But he is excited to go to school and get paid by his government to do it. And his jaw absolutely dropped when he heard how much college costs in the U.S. While he is going to be getting paid 1000 euros a month.

It is hard to stay focused on writing this paper because we are in this hotel with a lot of rain and this town is mostly comprised of outdoor places. So leaving and working somewhere is hard but sitting on the bed and working is conducive to...absolutely no work whatsoever. Not to mention that in the process of attempting to change my email password I actually got locked out of my email. Not really sure what I'm going to do about that one but it is fairly important, especially at this stage in the game.

Oh and electronic Jingle Bells at the supermarket gets old REALLY fast.

I used an umbrella for the first time in an incredibly long time today. One of the nice hotel men lent it to me in a downpour. It was mildly embarrassing though because due to my utter lack of experience with umbrellas, I couldn't figure out how to open it at first. But Brazilians all huddle under cover during the rain (even the ones with umbrellas) so when we step out into it they basically think we are insane. Especially umbrella-less. That really gets them talking.

The day of thanks

Turkey sushi. No mom, we did not eat turkey sushi, contrary to what my family thought. It took a bit of explanation because SOMEONE apparently spread that rumor. We did, however eat sushi. After evaluating our ability (or lack thereof) to produce a decent typical meal with the tools of the hotel room (a refrigerator and a table) we decided not to eat cold typical Thanksgiving foods and instead hit up SUSHI. Yeah, sushi for Thanksgiving. It was delicious but very odd as Frances and I sat in a Japanese restaurant in Brazil thinking about our different traditions of giving thanks. And of course occasionally seeing a flash of new American music (weird) on the TV. But Thanksgiving consisted of sushi, ice cream, apples and chocolate pastries. It was very odd but interesting. An anti-Thanksgiving but with lots to be thankful for.

It was way fun to video chat with the whole family and see everyone though it doesn't make up for not seeing them in the flesh. But soon enough! I am way excited.

So yesterday being the 25th of November, the supermarket workers had to start wearing Santa hats. Santa hats with gold swirly designs on them. I could see anyone disliking Christmas after a month of that.

With the sun during the day, the rain decided to move to taking place at night. And by rain I mean thunderstorm that wakes you up. Not the thunder but the force of the rain. It was pretty impressive. And that was before we knew that the impressiveness of the rain had also made itself known on the floor of our room. Stepping foot out of bed was more of a wet endeavor than usual and we discovered that our whole floor had been covered by a layer of water. Luckily the laptops were both in bags and escaped submersion but it swallowed more than a few pages of notes. It is all over now and our floor looks especially clean and shiny.

I am finding that I am more attached to the holiday of Thanksgiving than I ever knew before. I never doubted how much I loved the food and the break from school but I am really missing being home and seeing family and hanging out and sharing. Frances and I had planned to make Thanksgiving at the house of a male nurse we were working with but he managed to create an incredibly uncomfortable situation and neither one of us want to go over there anymore. So perhaps Thanksgiving will find us in the outdoor eating area of our pousada, plastic covered tables and all. Just as long as it doesn't rain. Plus the longer I am here the more I am finding to be truly deeply thankful for than I have before. Maybe it sounds cliche or trite but it is so true. (Being thankful for not having to wear a gold and red Santa hat to work for a month is just the beginning.)

Dark clouds of a different sort

I can see blue sky! And not only blue sky but a blazingly large sun that is making me forget about all that rain. It is nice to actually feel like I am in Brazil once again.

On the other hand, what I am doing is really hard for me. It is hard talking to a 2o year old (MY AGE) with three kids from 2 to 5 and realize that she has no hopes for her own future and seems to have very little for the future of her kids. She left a rural area to move to Porto Seguro in hopes of improving life at least somewhat (and escaping the father of her kids.) She works taking care of other people's houses and kids while her own either take care of each other or stay at the house of a neighbor. She is scared her daughters will end up like her and her son will end up like her father but she has no idea how to break that cycle. It was so hard to talk to her because it feels so unfair. Here I am, STUDYING (something she hasn't done for ten years) in her country while she struggles to live. I am trying to figure out what I want to do with my life and she has resigned herself to the fact that what she is living now IS her life. It is so hard not to be able to do anything.

Christmas in Brazil...

is basically decorated like Christmas in the U.S. Which is a little difficult due to the lack of fir trees and snow in particular. But the Brazilians are a crafty bunch and they seem to make due anyway. The grocery store around the corner from our pousada is a prime example as they already strung a cloth fir tree (complete with large ornaments) in front of the main palm tree. That along with snowflakes from the ceiling and rope lights around the entrance and I am basically home. I haven't actually talked to a Brazilian yet who has touched snow but it does seem to be the main component of every window display related to Christmas. Santa (white of course) in a snowy land with holly, mistletoe and Christmas trees.

Yesterday I was coming back from a little work and had forgotten there was a soccer game on. The entrance to the pousada was full of men leaning forward in their chairs to watch Cruzeros take on Flamenco (and win with a last minute goal.) As I walked to our room on the third floor I realized that every room with people in it also had the sound of the game blaring from it. So everyone was either inside watching, in the lobby watching, or (Frances and I) leaving to watch over pizza (the store was closed again - Porto Seguro takes its sabbath seriously.)

I have been going to health posts to talk to the people in the waiting rooms about their origins and what brought them here as well as their jobs. I guess my research is suddenly taking me for a turn in a different direction. I'm not exactly sure right now but I am enjoying it. Though being in different health posts really opens my eyes to a lot of what goes on in the health system here. I hope that the U.S. can somehow figure out how to provide health care to everyone but it will be tough. Most people in the U.S. wouldn't be too excited about waiting in an outdoor waiting room at a health clinic or the hospital. Especially (the health clinic) one with dogs running in and being chased out by one of the secretaries. Here though, without these clinics (even ones with dogs hanging out) the great majority of the population (only ONE AND A HALF PERCENT of year round Porto Seguro residents can afford private insurance) would not have any access to health services whatsoever. (And ironically a lot of that 1.5% seems to be made up by workers within the public heatlh system.)

On another note...Brazilian men are making me cynical about the entire male gender. I know it isn't fair but it is hard not to be at this point. I keep waiting for one to prove me wrong. It weirds me out that you can't just be friends with guys here. It really just doesn't exist and any gesture of friendship thus tends to be taken as something else.

Sushi

Sushi in Brazil is actually quite surprisingly delightful. Yesterday was Frances' birthday so we went out to a nearby sushi place for dinner. It was pretty funny to see swearing the traditional sushi chef garb - head band with Japanese script and all that - but the food was amazing as well. And I don't think that it was only because it was such a departure from what we've been eating for so long. It was delicious.

And it hasn't stopped raining for four days now. I'm beginning to think I should build an ark.

RRRAIN

So I think Brazil is trying to make me feel at home. That is nice and all, but the thing is I really much rather it STOP raining while I am here. This sudden theme of wetness all the time is making my life a little difficult. Especially since I am interviewing vendors outside. And vendors apparently hide when it rains. Other than that minor detail things have gotten a lot better since I stopped interviewing (or trying to interview) male vendors. It really is too bad that the culture here is such that an attempt by me to conduct research with a male population is so extremely difficult. I really am interested in what they have to say about their health but unfortunately that never seems to be the topiuc of conversation.

Today I went to a health post and talked to some nurses and doctors about the impact of the amount of migrants to the area to work in tourism jobs. They were so nice and receptive and gave me a ton of information. They want me to come back on Monday when there will be more people in the waiting area AND so I can teach them English. Ha. But it is a validating experience to be able to walk into an unknown place and be able to keep up a health related conversation in Portuguese. I have come a long way since being able to say hello and thank you when I got here.

BUT I figured out that my Spanish pronunciation has fallen apart. I will have to figure that one out before next semester, but it is really weird to try to say simple Spanish words. They all come out Portuguesian.

It is crazy to look at the calendar that Frances and I made almost 2 weeks ago! It is filling up with pictures and words that most people probably wouldn't understand. Kind of our personal hieroglyphics but it is pretty amazing how much we have done while we have been here. And how much more we have to do in the next two weeks. That is the killer.

Oh AND my body is so used to being sick at this time of year that I guess it has decided to perpetually be kind of sick while I am doing my research. For old times' sake but I am not a fan.

It gets better as you go...

Well the first day of interviewing was Monday. And far from being a good experience, it ended up changing the focus of my project. I discovered (better now than later) that me being female makes random interviews of vendors hard because so many of them are male. I went out at night because that is when the town really starts waking up and hit the main tourist drag. I had a decent discussion with one guy but far less than decent discussions with a couple others that necessitated me leaving for the night. Needless to say the first experience was less than what I had hoped, but I talked with my (awesome!) advisor and decided to change the topic a little so that I can focus on women vendors. We will see how it goes, but this time around I am more excited.

In my attempts to send some messages back to the US (aka postcards) I was informed by the post office that the postcards I had would cost over 60 reais to mail. I love you all but I didn't want to choose who would get them (plus the lady wasn't very friendly) so I left. Maybe I can give you a really pretty postcard when I get back instead.

My new favorite food is frozen pureed mango. It comes in these little pouches that you are supposed to mix with either juice or milk, but Frances and I buy them, cut off the corner, and eat them as popsicles. It is deliciously fruity and though everyone invariably looks at us like we are crazy when we eat it plain, it is definitely worth it.

And despite being in VERY different places when we are in the US (Virginia vs Oregon) Frances and I are finding out we actually have a ton in common otherwise. In terms of family and music and thoughts on religion, politics, etc. Plus the whole public health thing and where we maybe want to go with that. It is pretty neat, though it makes for a little less sleeping than might be optimal some nights.

It is really fun to sit in the internet cafe and listen to people call home. So far I have heard German, Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese (huge surprise) and Russian. AND the Internet cafe people have become our friends. So have the people who own the restaurant across the street where there is some delicious comida-a-kilo (with GREEN vegetables.) And in terms of comida a kilo I learned that the weight of the food on the plate is different depending on where the lettuce is. A CRUCIAL discovery as I can now get a fabulous lunch for 3 reais. It is all in the lettuce. If the tomatoes and heavy things go on top of the lettuce the cost decreases in a huge way. I plan to write a book and teach such secrets to the Brazilian population (although since it involves lettuce there may be a lack of people using such tricks.)

Above: The gorgeous beach that created my nasty burn which still persists in areas. The ocean is looking a little malevolent, usually it appears much bluer.

Project among other things

This whole project thing is kind of scaring me. It is all coming to a head and there is a LOT of work to do. And it is something that I have never done before. Which is both exciting and (with the added Portuguese interviewing component) nervewracking. But overall I know it will be a really great experience for me, I just have to suck it up.

And yesterday was a surprise holiday. Which basically means everyone (in typicl Brazilian holiday style) closed their stores and went to the beach. And not knowing this, when Frances and I set out to get lunch we were sorely disappointed. (It ended up consisting of frozen pureed mango and crackers for me.)

Oh and the beach this weekend gave me a wee surprise. I did put on sunscreen. I swear it. And I have a witness. But the sun attacked me, and I will most likely be feeling the repercussions for awhile. I look like neopolitan ice cream.

Last night we went out with the CTA van as they served prostitutes who work the city center. Whether or not it is stereotypical to call it eye-opening. It was. As well as very hard to process. We all got in the van and headed to a bar well known for seedy activity. We parked the van and got out and just chatted out on the sidewalk. Slowly the women who were hanging around the bar started approaching the van one by one. One would get in the back with the nurse Vinicius (or Vinny when we are referring to him) and he would talk to them and ask if it was OK if one of us (Frances and I) got in to just listen and learn. I was pretty amazed that none of them said no. They really didn't have a problem with us being in the van, hearing their sexual history and background, watching their blood being sampled for HIV and Hep tests and watching the general exchange with the nurse before they got condoms and left the van.

After being in there I really don't understand (more than before) people who claim people choose to be prostitutes. The first woman who I sat in the van with spilled her life story to me. She lives five or so hours up the road but comes down when the tourist season picks up and spends three months here. She has a boyfriend and she said she uses a condom with all her clients because she understands the risk (now, after contracting various STDs) but never does with him. It is the main way she is able to separate her relationship from her work. That statement almost made me cry.

The second woman I got in the van with is four months pregnant and also here for the tourist season. She has another kid that stays home in a different city with other people while she comes in. The nurse who does this is amazing. Most people couldn't do what he does but the way he makes them feel so comfortable and even gets a lot of smiles and laughter out of the women as he hands them condoms or talks about what is going on with them is incredible.

Frances and I got back to the hotel room and we could not stop talking about our night. It was shocking and so hard to take in. At the same time though, the services they provide are pretty incredible. They drive around seeking out the populations that other people generally seek to avoid or ignore. And the trust that the CTA van has bult up with the community is pretty incredible as well. Even though it is a government sponsored endeavor, women willing enter the van to talk, knowing they will be safe.

On a side note. There were so many of us in the van (which has seats in the front for two and in the back for two) that Vinny had to sit on the styrofoam blood test cooler. Styrofoam being the one sound I hate most in the world. The streets of Porto Seguro did not exactly offer a smooth and squeak free ride. More like a non-stop squeaking adventure.

Oh and today was the wettest day I have seen in Brazil. While searching for clothespins Frances and I got caught in a massive downpour. The firehose kind. It lasted for about an hour and then out popped the sun for the rest of the day.

With these clothespins we bought we set out to WASH OUR CLOTHES. After finding out that washing and drying at a laundromat costs at minimum 10 bucks (20 reais) a load (for the sketchy place) we bought some soap, clothesline and clothespins. We turned our empty ten liter water container into a washtub, hung clothesline all over the room, turned some music up loud and proceeded to have a clothes washing party for much less that 20 reais. The neighbors might think we are crazy but our room now looks even neater than before, minus the ducking down super low and getting dripped on in any attempt to leave the bed area of the room.

Some facts

You know you are working with an AIDS prevention center when your lunch utensils are stored in a large box that was formerly used to store hundreds of gel lubricant packets.

In Brazil people refer to the elderly as "tercera idade" or the third age.


Also,
Porto Seguro mosquitos: 37
Me: 5

Porto Seguro is pretty sweet

Hello world.
My new pousada is about a block from the ocean. But not the beachy ocean, the docky ocean. The beachy ocean is a couple blocks further down. It is really close to the historic center of the city (and thus the touristy area) but removed enough into residential neighborhoods that there is other stuff besides drinking and shopping going on there.

Yesterday night Frances and I made a gigantic calendar (while listening to loud Bon Jovi) out of notebook paper, markers and crayons and posted it on the wall. And then proceeded to be amazed at how little time we actually have here. We also decorated our room with a sweet condom poster and some "Always use condoms" bandanas courtesy of the secretary of health. I think that the housekeeper will think us an interesting couple.

We went to some health seminars directed at the community health agents of Porto Seguro today. The focus was STDs and AIDS and risk factors in the populations they serve. It was very interesting to see the differing levels of knowledge among the community. We had lunch with the program nurse and talked about the shortcomings of our country's health care systems. We were pretty open about our shortcomings but I think he has a bit of an idealized vision of Brazil's system. It certainly has its good points but it isn't all rosy either.

I am behind on a ton of things but I really just want to hang out with the staff of CTA (the center for testing and counselling) and absorb all they can teach me.

I can't exactly believe how much my living situation and life in general has changed in a day and a half. Or how lucky I am.

First of all, one of the nurses at the health post where I worked last week had Frances (my travel buddy) and I over at her house to spend the night in anticipation of our bus trip in the morning. (She lives super close to the bus station.) So she and her family had us over, fed us breakfast, let us use a super comfy bed, and sent us on our way at the crack of seven in the morning. Which is really awesome.

I spent the first half of yesterday watching the Brazilian countryside fly by. There were a lot of donkeys, red flowering trees, okra plants!, guys on bicycles ambling down the highway, houses made of plastic and branches and huge farms. And a lot more variety of landscape than I expected moving from one coastal region to another. There were high hills and lush forests and plateau land. And some enormous tree farms that reminded me of I-84 heading out east. Just staring out the window, sleeping and sharing some great tunes made the bus ride fly by.

We got off the bus, all ready to head out to this house we were going to stay at when our advisor told us it was extremely far from the city center. So we got in the car with our advisor and the driver just got on the phone with some friends at a pousada (hostelly/hotelly thing) and got us an amazing price with a sweet breakfast included. And right in the middle of everything. You just have to know people to get things done here. And I guess we know people which is pretty swell.

Our advisor (a really warm woman in her 40s who coordinates the AIDS programs for the area and works with the secretary of health) is awesome and hooked us up with the roving CTA van which is a travelling STD/AIDS clinic which helped take us around town and show us what the lay of the land is in terms of health care. The crew of the van is a jolly driver who isn't a health professional but knows a TON and is really excited about sharing it. One of the nurses (Vinizio) that we have been hanging out with is a very driven guy and an awesome people person. He jokes and talks with everyone about everything and really puts people at ease even when he's talking about STDs which is pretty impressive.

Everyone comes here for vacation so the town is built to hide the fact that there are thousands of poor people who come just to serve the tourist industry. And that is where we have been going to the health clinics. It is two worlds completely. Today we drove past houses that cost 4-20 million EUROS, yeah, euros in order to reach two health clinics and the urgent care clinic (which I am pretty certain did not cost 4 million euros to build.)

That being said, it is a very impressive melding of two completely different lifestyles. While tourists don't necessarily see the places where the poor live, everyone goes to the beach together and hangs out side by side. Basically I am really excited about the next month of my life and I think it will fly by kinda like our bus ride yesterday.

I have become excellent at maximizing the use of my food stipend for this excursion we are on. It is pretty excellent. We have a breakfast buffet at this pousada and I enjoy waking up at seven and stretching out my stomach before I head down. I proceed to sit at the table for two hours and eat fruit and fruit salad and bread and cheese and fruit and bread and juice and oatmeal and cornbread and cornbread and oatmeal and hot chocolate and juice and fruit and french toast and cornbread at a steady pace until they start taking it away. An excellent way to minimize spending on lunch. I don't think the hotel owner likes me very much.

I am leaving tomorrow at seven in the morning on a bus headed south to Porto Seguro where I will start the independent project phase of the program. I already really like the city of Ilheus and don't particularly want to leave yet but I'm really excited at the same time. I have heard from countless Brazilians that people who go to Porto Seguro never come back. I intend to come back, especially because it is only getting hotter here and it is supposed to be 95 by eight in the morning starting in a couple weeks but who knows. The baby whale birthing season is going on there right now so I might decide I have better things to do than take classes next semester (like swim with the whales.)

It is weird to me that the project phase of this adventure is here because that means a little over a month before the end of the program. In a lot of ways it feels like I have been here forever but at the same time it just keeps speeding by.

Oh and the mosquitos in Ilheus tend to ignore me in favor of the other girls but the tiny biting ants have taken a liking to my flavor. They are even ruder than mosquitos because they are so small you can't feel them or hear them until you feel them bite. And then their death doesn't matter because thay already had a feast.

Some (very) miscellaneous things

Yesterday we visited a day care/community center run by some nuns (specifically headed by one - Irma Bernadette.) You walk away from the health post and down a dirt road for a ways. It looks like you are about to leave the town and keep walking into the country but all of a sudden a multicolored fence appears on the right. Inside is a huge compound filled with kids. They have four hundred preschoolers in and out every day. They have music programs, dance, a playground, a garden with medicinal herbs and vegetables, a library, a kitchen and classrooms. And hundreds of happy kids in little blue t-shirts spilling out of one room into the next. The nuns have set this up with no government help - the government is really happy that they do it but offer no financial support - so they rely on donations and they also produce crafts (by teaching women from the neighborhood who then can also use them to make money for themselves) to benefit the school. And this is all run by a little nun who must be about seventy five and had a stroke a month and a half ago. She is pretty incredible and probably the most world conscious person I have met in Brazil.

Also yesterday we saw a sixth month old baby at the health post with his dad (a rarity in itself.) Later I found out that it was his first kid but the mom already had five and had abandoned him at birth. He is lucky because in many situations the same kid would be in an orphanage now. Instead he has a completely loving and devoted dad who has to work a lot but leaves his son with neighbors and comes back to play at night. So bittersweet.

On a COMPLETELY different note..
Today on the TV in the health post waiting room there were guinea pig races! Most of the people in the waiting room reacted as if they had never seen a guinea pig before which is not exactly surprising in one of the poorest parts of a small town in northeastern Brazil. But I thought it might be of particular interest to some people.

Also here in Ilheus I have discovered a phenomenon which is both awesome and horrible at once. Ice cream by the kilo. You serve yourself however much you want of whatever flavors, put lots of toppings on and then just stick it on the scale. And it is painfully cheap, especially on wednesday and saturday when it is half price and packed. On those days you can get four generous scoops plus toppings for about 1.50 which is less than 75 cents. And therefore very dangerous. Especially when they have all sorts of tropical fruit flavors, coconut and LOTS of chocolate.

And (finally) a bunch of pictures of Ilheus and associated activities.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036754&l=ddcad&id=17704089

I want to ride a bicycle

Women don't really ride bikes here. This town is bike (and donkey) heavy and therefore I see a lot of them every day but I have only seen TWO women riding bikes using their own legs while I've been here. A handful more have existed on the crossbar or handlebars of a man's bike.

In other bike news, they use bikes for EVERYTHING here. they deliver fifty liter containers of water, canisters of gas, cases of beer all over town. It is actually pretty impressive. Oh and the ice cream men either walk or BIKE! And by bike I don't exactly mean the one side of the street obeying the rules of the road (it would probably help if there were rules) kind of biking that tends to happen in the US. More like bike wherever you want and hope the buses are nice enough to honk when they are gaining on you. And avoid the donkey poop.

You probably wouldn't EXACTLY think it was safe but it sure looks fun, mom. And these guys have speed PLUS finesse. And they can bomb down the nastiest hill I have ever seen and still be alive at the end. And I mean a pretty nasty hill. Like the kind that hurst you calves BAD when you walk up. And you can never really see the top once you're climbing it because it is too steep. With some serious grooves dug to control sewage runoff. It is a hill worth conquering.

November 4, 2008

Well last night was pretty epic around here. It started out with a very vegetably salad and part of a sandwich (on WHOLE WHEAT bread) at a terrific restaurant, but as you may guess, food was not the only way in which the night was epic.

We returned to the Pousada to try to watch some election coverage (the five hour difference between here and the west coast complicated matters a bit) and got kicked out of our room by a party pooper or two who didn’t care about what was going on. But we (Meghan and I) made a home for ourselves in the lobby of the hotel starting around eleven at night. We found a particularly lovely election channel and watched some results from the east coast start to come in and then – SURPRISE! – the channel got taken over by a large Jay Leno/Woody Allen (no shit – it was a shocking combination) host on his own late show. We desperately flipped through channels and tried to get the hotel internet to cooperate with us (it apparently didn’t care about the future of the world) until we found a super fuzzy channel that was informing us about the weirdness of American politics. We learned how odd the American electoral system is over and over as Brazilians seem to be amazed by the sheer stupidity inherent in some of the voting procedures that we adhere to. We were also reminded that in Brazil the election results are known (without fail) countrywide two hours after the polls close AND that the voting machines actually work here.

The Brazilians did seem interested to see that Americans were actually turning out to vote because the political apathy of our country is no secret. When they stopped trying to explain that you can win without actually winning in America, they moved on to the life histories of each candidate. (At this point Meghan and I were dying because we hadn’t actually heard any solid numbers for at least forty five minutes.) We heard of John McCain’s history of service and about Obama’s multicultural background. With lots of lovely baby pictures of each included. Precious and all that but there are actual VOTES coming in right now, guys. After the life histories we got to learn about the civil rights movement and America’s racial division. Brazil prides itself on being a racial democracy but the all white anchor crew neglected to mention that there are quite a few problems within the “democracy” that is Brazil. Namely that it doesn’t exactly exist.

After a while the news anchor took us to a party in Sao Paulo with a bunch of expats waiting for results. So the first electoral map we saw all night was a poster on the wall of the party. It looked kind of like something I might have made for a sixth grade politics class with a black outline of the map of the US and the states. The states that had been decided were colored in either red or blue with a crayon. Yup. And the cameraman pointed his camera at the map for a solid few minutes, allowing us to see it in all its glory, while the anchor discussed the votes in the US. She ran us down the list of some of the percentages for some of the easternmost states and we were able to compare those percentages with the colored in states.

We were about to give up hope when the epic saga of the Bush presidency came on the screen. It traced the eight years since 2000, from the fight over pregnant chads to September 11 to multiple wars and the current economic problems. I was standing up at about one thirty about to head to bed when the news anchor interrupted the tale of the past eight years of America’s history with breaking news. And suddenly we knew that the election was projected in favor of Obama. Two more girls walked down the stairs because they had woken up to go to the bathroom…and just in time. Our jaws all dropped as we watched McCain walk onto the stage and concede. We jumped out of our chairs and clustered around the little staticky TV that was hanging in the corner. The man who was working the lobby and had been sitting with us for hours got a little smile and sat back and watched the crazy Americans have a little party in front of him. We became silent and just stared, listening to McCain.

Post McCain, commercials took over. We knew Obama was coming but had no clue when. And they sure knew how to draw it out, showing us the crowd in Chicago over and over (and Oprah – who they referred to as an American legend) before anyone came out on stage. And then when Obama did we stood about five inches from the TV just watching. And he made it worth the wait for sure. He has a long road ahead of him and I can’t say I envy his position but I hope he can bring some knowledge and direction to the US. And Brazil is excited as well. This morning when we went to the health post everyone was giving us thumbs up and asking why one earth we had stayed up till three in the morning when they KNEW he was going to win anyway. They already knew. Obviously. Why was everyone so worried when Brazil already knew?

Three and a half hours of sleep was SO worth it.

Who are you, Brazil?

Yesterday was supposed to be our first day working at the health post and out in the community but I ended up with the worst stomach pain of my life. So after going to the health post for some concoctions I hit the lavendary pousada for a day long nap.

Today however I was ready. We got to the health post at eight and were divided up into two groups to go into the neighborhood with the two different community health agents that work a particular neighborhood in this favela. We walked around a bit getting the lay of the land - looking at the preschool, the water tank and climbing the huge hill that is the only way for many community members to get home. It was tough enough when it was dry but I cannot imagine attempting it in the rain - it looks like it would be a waterfall. But there are TWO soccer fields on top of the hill. They literally are everywhere in this country.

My group then went to a few of the houses on our ACS's (Agente de Saude Comunitaria) route. this country continues to surprise me at every turn. The comparison of today with Sunday leaves me so conflicted I am working on sorting it all out in my mind. The first house we went to was a five year old boy and his grandmother. She has hypertension, diabetes and is losing some of her eyesight. Their house has a dirt floor, an open wood fire for cooking, and no running water or connection to the sewage system. She was welcoming and very sweet, showing us around her modest house an leading us out to the backyard which seemed almos a barnyard. They had chickens and roosters, cats, a puppy and a pregnant dog. While we ogled the dogs she explained that her grandson had never been to school and could barely speak. This is at five years old. The ACS (Christiana) explained to us that they thought he was never quite like all the other kids but he could have gone to school anyway if his grandmother had taken him. She never did and he has spent almost all of his life within the same two room house. When we left we asked Christiana what will happen to him when his grandmother dies. He will be sent to an orphanage in another part of the city because his dad left when he was one and his mom died. And he will most likely grow up there because his grandmother is fairly sick already.

This compared to next door where we knocked and were let into a tiled house with a living room, a kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. It was certainly still a modest house with very small
rooms but it felt like a home. We were there so Christina could check on the bed-ridden grandmother of the house. She is being cared for by one of her granddaughters who is also working and going to school. Even though she is unable to move much she is lucky. Her family pooled their money in order to get her an air mattress so she doesn't get bedsores.

When we left that house we moved onto a house with an eight month old baby Felipe. If I had a big enough bag I might have slipped him inside. This little boy had the biggest brown eyes and was a sweetie. He is lucky too. Even though is his mom is my age, she and his dad both completed high school (a rarity in this neighborhood) and have steady jobs. They live in a room in front of his families house that they converted into a bedroom/living room/kitchen for the three of them. With the most adorable crib I have ever seen. We talked to his mom for awhile about the health situation in her community and the open sewage which is a problem in a lot of the area.

And that was all in the morning. After a delightful lunch we headed back to the health post and I sat in with a couple other students on a nutritionist who was registering patients for the "Bolsa Familiar" program which is basically money given to poor families (that is supposed to be used for food but which is given as cash once a month - leaving some question in may people's minds.) People who are registered in the program (which is only for families) have to show up at the health post twice a year to get everyone in their family weighed and measured to make sure they are nutritionally ok. If they aren't they get scheduled for further appointments and if they don't show up at all in a year they lose their benefits. And then we left the nutrition area and snacked on popcorn and pop and sat outside and talked about elections with the med students and health post workers. And got a hilarious dance performance by the cook/ cleaning lady from one of the health teams. Picture the animals from Madagascar (the movie) but in human form dancing and singing Obama! Obama! Obama! I almost choked on my popcorn.

This country is very hard to process.

Just another day in paradise

Today the nurses from the health post we are working at arranged for a van to take us all to Itacare (a beach town an hour or so up the road with some of the best rated beaches in the world.) So we piled in at some ungodly hour of the morning and ended up at a place that I am fairly certain I could not ever find again even if I had step by step instructions. We pulled off the main road at some point and drove between a couple of restaurants in a dirt parking lot which put us on a little dirt road. We drove down that for awhile and took some turns that looked more like driveways (or like nothing at all) and twenty or so minutes (and various wrong turns and highly skilled backup maneuvers later) we parked in the yard of a family. They charge three reais (about a buck fifty) to park as long as you want. Plus they lent us knives for our fruit and took us to their natural spring when we got back. And the whole family - the little barefoot boys, the old men, and the assorted canines all wished us a fun day and pointed us down the hill towards a particular barbed wire fence.

We had quite a steep hike down (especially for the flip flops that every one of us was wearing) which (surprise!) made for an excellent hike back up. I loved the hiking as this was a part of life that was severely lacking in Salvador. And once we hit the sand even the people who weren't quite enthused about the hiking part perked up considerably. It was a gorgeous little beach protected by hills on either side. White sand, a little warm river meeting the ocean, and even little huts to sit under. And absolutely no tourists and no one selling anything but coconuts. Plus a herd of small children using a low powerline as a volleyball net. Excellent.

We climbed on the rocks and played in the waves and the sand and then were told that poisonous jellyfish live there. They usually chill further out but were washing up today. They are really gorgeous things - kind of like shiny blown up balloons - and came in purple, pink and blue. The poison part is a little bit of a turn off but we touched their backs and tried to save some (which washed up again.) And then we climbed on the rocks some more, played some more, ate some fruit and cookies and chips (with the help of the borrowed knife) before making the hike up. And by return hike time the sun had decided there would be no shade available so we all arrived up top glistening. Lucky for us our friends showed us to the place they gather their water from a spring and we got to feel fresh again.

We headed to town for a bit before taking off again for Ilheus (because we obviously needed some ice cream and more food in our lives.) And then on the way home we stopped at an empada place (which equals deliciousness cooked in a little shell.) I prefer tomato, basil and arugula myself. But there is something for EVERYONE. Yum.

Oh and the first hotel we were at in Ilheus was kinda grody (actually very) and a bit of a security hazard. But yesterday we moved and now are in a happy lavendary hotel with a yummy breakfast and a pregnant resident cat. Perfect.

YES!

Someone thought I was from Portugal today. It was fantastic.

Other than that this country is super pumped about Obama. That is ALL I have been hearing and seeing. He is on half the magazine covers at the newstands and on just about everyone's minds. I hope he wins or I may be personally excommunicated from this country (though there may be a couple other good reasons as well.)

CHOCOLATE

Well currently we are stationed in Ilheus for a couple weeks. Ilheus is a little beach town that is very popular with Brazilian tourists and now very popular with me. We are doing a village study and looking at the way the primary care clinics function in the community. And perhaps visiting the beach a tiny bit.

Ilheus used to be the world's number one producer of cocoa (80%!) but twenty years ago a nasty bug spread and contaminated the fruit. But they are recovering slowly. We got to visit a cocoa plantation/wildlife area today. And eat a lot of the cocoa fruit and some ultra bitter seeds. We followed the cocoa through the process from tree to fermentation to drying. And once the little brown seeds are dry people walk all over the little piles of them to shed the skin. They bag them and sell huge bags for various delicacies (chocolate, cocoa nibs, chocolate liquer) which are all over Ilheus.

MOST IMPORTANTLY at the cocoa plantation there is also a SLOTH rescue center. Which equals baby sloths and slooow sloths climbing around. Some of them were actually moving faster than I imagined since I had only seen sloths in one place before. And I TOUCHED one! He was way softer than he looked.

Chocolately sloths...a fantastical day.

The last hurrah

Well since last Thursday my life has been a bit of a whirlwind.
Friday was our final Portuguese test as well as the due date of our final proposal for the independent project part of the program. So while Thursday night was a little less than ideal (it sucked) I believe I was able to make up for it by cramming the weekend full of fun.
After I turned in my proposal I went and walked around the historic center of the city (Pelorinho), watched people and tried (unsuccessfully) to find prices that weren't ridiculously high. I then met up with Alison and we journeyed to the beach, hung out for a while then went behind the lighthouse on a grassy knoll to watch the sunset (along with about half the couples in Salvador.) It was a gorgeous night but not prime for sunsets as a herd of clouds sat themselves right on the horizon. I went home and talked to my mae about me leaving and about today's election. She was previously going to leave her ballot blank because her candidate didn't make it past the first round but her church told her to vote Pinheiro so that settled that. I headed back down by the beach for the night and hung out with a few friends (Brazilian and otherwise) who were playing guitar in the shadow of the lighthouse. I got back and my other brother had arrived from Sao Paulo where he lives and works to stay for the weekend. He is twenty-five and pretty hilarious. He studied in Canada for a year and speaks English with a Canadian accent which is a little bit of a shock to hear in the middle of Brazil. He works so much that he doesn't get to go to the beach or hang around outside too much so he is whiter than I am which was a source of endless amusement for the whole family. We devoured what remained of the triple chocolate cake my mae made for his homecoming (prodigal son?) and talked for a couple hours.

I was pretty sure that I had just closed my eyes when I had to wake up on Saturday. We had to meet at Campo Grande for a picnic with everyone's host family at the beach house of one of the families. We got on a huge and hugely awkward tourist bus for the trek out there and basically played around on the beach and ate all day. Neither of which I have a problem with. Some of us also walked up the road a little ways to a sea turtle hatchery and education center. There were big turtles that were rescued and being rehabbed as well as little babies swimming around in a pool and waiting until they get big enough to be released. I wanted to slip one into my pocket but I don't have a supply of freshly dead fish for him so I decided against it. We got back, got home, ate dinner and I met back up with some of the girls in Campo Grande. We headed to a jazz show at the modern art museum which overlooks the bay. The show is every Saturday and is live music outdoors for REALLY cheap. And I mean under one American dollar when you get there late like we did. We left after a couple hours and went to Frances' house which is fairly close by. Her host mom's best friend was having a birthday party at this crazy expensive club and got extra free passes. We are always up for free so we got ready to go out again and headed down to the club (which apparently has two sister clubs - in NYC and Sao Paulo.) We got in but it was a bit awkward because we used passport photocopies as ID (which was not a problem at all) but some of the girls in the birthday group had non-plasticized IDs and the bouncer was not a very sympathetic man. So we got in way before the rest of the people we had gotten the free passes from. But once we were in I felt like I was in a club from a movie. Sleek everything - all the chairs were L-shaped moderny white couches and there were balconies for extra special people. The DJ was up on a balcony above the dance floor and there were some glowing lotus flowers hanging from the ceiling (the club name is Lotus). It was pretty highbrow stuff (or as they say here "chic-y") and certainly an experience. At a couple random points during the music there were also color coordinated dancers on top of some of the tables which was heartily appreciated by the men in the room but caused a female rush to the bathrooms. The taxi driver home tried to trick us into paying him more but when we fought back in Portuguese he backed down real quick and apologized too.

And now I must pack. I am sitting in a dirty room with all my stuff having apparently migrated out of the places it belongs. I can't believe I am leaving tomorrow and I really can't believe I am supposed to have seven weeks worth of stuff packed by ten a.m. tomorrow. I may need luck on my side today.

Oh and I realized a couple days ago how dependent my TWENTY NINE year old brother is on his mom to cook for him, clean his clothes and wash his dishes. I am pretty sure I have not seen him do any of the above even once while I have been here. However he is really good at asking his mom to make him fried bananas. So ma and pa - thanks for forcing me into laboring at a young age. I'm glad I'm not a dependent blob and I have you to thank for that.

When time is a-flying

I can't believe that I am leaving the city in four days. We are going south to do a village study and work in a couple health clinics down there and from there Frances and I are going further south to do our individual research projects. I have just been so busy in the last couple of weeks that I haven't really noticed the end creeping up on me. And now we have a final proposal due tomorrow, a final test tomorrow, a picnic with our families on Saturday and then we leave on Monday.

It is weird to think that seven weeks ago when we rode through the city on a bus to do our dropoff I had absolutely no clue what was going on, I was mostly just overwhelmed. Now I can tell where I am (most of the time) and have explored a lot of this enormous city. It is also weird to think that I'll be leaving my mae so soon. She certainly has her quirks (but so do my real parents...) but she has opened her door and been nothing but kind and caring to me the whole time I have been here. She looked at the calendar this morning and started getting really sad. She is worried that when I leave Salvador I will forget about her, but I reassured her that it really would be impossible. I have experienced a lot of the city through her eyes in ways that can't just be forgotten with a little distance.

She told me should would miss having someone around to laugh with (and at), to eat with, cook for and talk to. And she mentioned that she is actually pretty impressed with my Portuguese. She told me that when she met me she thought we would be doing hand signals to communicate for two months but that she has enjoyed teaching me things and seeing me catch on (though sometimes after a lengthy - or repeated - demonstration.)

I certainly am excited for whatever comes next but Salvador has certainly shown me a good time.

Oh no!

Time for a major freak out. Yeah, thats right. All of Brazil sprang forward an hour for spring. All of Brazil, that is, EXCEPT Bahia. Apparently they used to join the country in the time leap but then decided that it gets bright earlier here already so they didn't want to switch. So now they don't. But here is the problem. My mae has certain TV shows that she just has to watch that are broadcast for all of Brazil. American ones are most interesting to her (My Wife and Kids and The New Adventures of Old Christine are HUGE here - neither of which I had heard of while I was actually in the U.S) but she enjoys her Brazilian magic show as well. Problem is, all the shows that used to be on at nine here (and everywhere else) are now on at nine everywhere else and eight here. Doesn't seem so tragic to the average person but the average person does not rush home from midweek church services to watch American TV. But my mae does. Unfortunately now no matter how much rushing she does she will never make it in time now. I am interested to see whether TV or God wins out in this epic battle, though knowing my mae I would be willing to wager my living stipend on God.

Hot Hot Heat

I have decided that I will come home if for no other reason than it is already ridiculously hot sometimes and it is the beginning of spring. I am pretty sure I would melt during summer here. I try to go running in the morning but it is incredibly hard to get out of bed and force myself into running shoes when laying in my bed is enough to make me sweat. And running, well I tend to arrive back home looking like I jumped in the ocean with all my clothes on. My mae thinks I am completely insane. I usually leave before she wakes up and come back as she is making breakfast. She waits to hear the key in the door and then yells "How sweaty is my American today?"

Today was Dia de Comerciante (there is really a day for everyone here.) It would have been nice to know this beforehand though because apparently EVERYONE shuts their stores (including the huge grocery stores) and goes to the beach. I literally could not find a store that was open at all today. There were little vendors with their stands selling candy but that was basically it. And unfortunately we had class because I think the rest of Salvador was at the beach. Store keepers are supposed to be the ones who get the day off but I think that the rest of the city decides that they can't function without the steady supply of cookies that they are used to and decide to close up shop and hit the beach as well.

I watched my mae make her coffee this morning. FOUR scoops of sugar to one scoop of instant coffee. Wow. I think it must be sweeter than the chocolate milk she gives me.

Ilha de Mare

This is epically huge...proceed with caution.
Yesterday the group got back from a three day excursion to a nearby island (Ilha de Mare.) We went there with the intent of performing a health survey of the population but as I have learned in my time here plans are generally made only so that they can be made. They literally mean nothing, so I wasn't surprised when we ended up running a health fair in the town clinic. We worked with nursing students from UFBA - the federal university in Salvador - and put on a clinic with a variety of stations. We discussed hypertension and diabetes (hugely prevalent in the population) and ways to stay healthy so as to not rely on medication. There was also a clinic check up, vaccines, a height/weight/blood pressure station, dental care and med dispensal. It was pretty well attended and lots of fun. I learned some excellent Portuguese words as well.

So that was what we were there for, however we managed to cram A LOT into the short time we were there. The fun started when the seven of us who were living in Santana and Itomoabo were dropped off. The boat made it till it was about waist deep and then we took the plunge. I climbed in and the water was definitely past my bellybutton. Someone handed me my bag from the boat and I carried it to shore. It was pretty hilarious and the people on shore enjoyed the soggy group of Americanas who arrived.

Each of us stayed with a different family on the island. Mine was a mom and a dad with a 14 and a 7 year old girl. It was the first time I had really interacted with a family that has a dad the entire time I've been here. I didn't really realize what a rare breed they were until I actually had one. The fact that father figures are so absent here made this family even more adorable. When their dad came home at the end of a work day (fishing and carrying loads from boats to shops with his donkeys) the family would pull the little mattress out of the girls room and put it in the living room. They would turn on the TV and watch it together with the dad and daughters all curled up together on the floor. He was pretty quiet but really enjoyed showing me everything they grow in their garden (yucca, okra, tomatoes, peppers, mangoes, bananas and more that I can't remember) and telling me that he loves to be able to pick food and have his wife cook it for breakfast. They worked very hard but were very happy. The mom was super quiet but very sweet and the daughters were hilarious. They enjoyed telling me jokes that I half understood, teaching me Portuguese riddles and magic tricks. They also took me and my friend Frances (who was pretty much my neighbor there) on a hike on Friday morning.

We climbed the hill behind their house and went over and under a dozen barbed wire fences to reach the little lighthouse on top of the hill. We then went halfway down the other side (creating our own path as we went) to a little spot overlooking the ocean. We had an absolutely amazing view of the bay. To the left and far off into the distance was the skyline of downtown Salvador. We could also see the profiles of some islands off in the distance across the perfectly clear blue water. There were a few fishing boats out on the water(the island's main sustenance is its fishing.) The boats are basically brightly painted canoes and the fishermen are constantly in and out of the water setting up nets and diving down to untangle them. It was pretty neat to just sit up on the edge over the water and watch one bright yellow boat in particular slowly make its way from the middle of the bay to the shore. It was only eight in the morning but it was already extremely hot and I could only imagine how the fishermen must feel paddling in the middle of a huge mirror. On the way back my older sister (Talita) pointed out some different plants - baby coconuts! - and we collected some of the edible ones and brought them home, along with "cat's eye" (a gorgeous bright red and black seed) which apparently is great for making bracelets. We washed and feasted on baby coconuts - they are smaller than a quarter and you chew the outside and suck the sugar out of it, then hammer it open and eat the tiny amount of meat.

My family lived in Santana, a settlement that is on the side of the island facing Salvador, but the only health clinic on the island is in Praia Grande which is a twenty or thirty minute walk (when the tide is low) from Santana. And when the tide is high...you wait. And at night...you slip a lot. It was hard to navigate at times but it gave me a real look at the realities of life on the island. It would be easy to romanticize life on a gorgeous little island where everyone know everyone and everyone grows a lot of their own food, but the reality is that it is hard. There is one health clinic (as of last month) which is very nice and new but which is only open three days a week because no doctors live on the island itself - they come from Salvador. And as for emergency services, there are none. In an emergency you have to find someone with a boat and try to get to the mainland as fast as you can. It means a lot of unnecessary deaths and a lot of scary births of babies born in transit. While the health fair we put on was nice and appreciated, what the people really need is 24 hour emergency services. The island is technically a part of the city but seems to have been forgotten completely (it doesn't even get to elect its own city councilor.)

Later that day we did the health fair (in which I held a baby as she was getting some shots which did not make us the best of friends) and took a boat to the far side of the island to get a taste of life on the poorer side. And though it was about a fifteen minute boat ride it was a completely different place. Instead of brick and mortar houses and packed dirt roads there were houses of clay and sticks with small paths between them. I saw the worst case of malnutrition and lack of care I have ever seen. Annapurna and I were talking to a family about their life and the mom started telling us about how all of her kids have horrible cases of scabies. She called out her eight year old - Fernanda - to show us and it was honestly really hard to look at her. She had the sweetest little smile but she had scabs all over her arms and legs and was so malnourished that she looked more the size of a five year old. She walked very slowly and didn't play with the other kids. Apparently (we talked to the community health worker later) the mom is an alcoholic and occassionally tries to get her kids access to the right meds but never follows all the way through on the treatment so they never get better. It was very hard to see, especially next to the kids a couple houses down who were a little skinnier than the kids from the other side of the island but who were laughing and playing with each other and climbing up other girls in the group. Our director told us that that level of malnutrition is now very rare in Brazil but that doesn't make it any better for Fernanda. Oh and the ultimate irony. The poor side of the island is traversed by natural gas pipes taking gas to the Petrobras refinery on the neighboring island. They go through pastures and run alongside the road but somehow the gas money never seems to make it back to where the pipes come from.

I returned home that night and watched a little soap opera with my family. They tend to go to bed around eight (and wake up at five) because it is better for the fishermen to get out early, so I hung out with Talita for a little bit and went to bed after we talked about her education. That in itself is pretty darn impressive. The school on the island only goes up to fourth grade so kids who want to keep going to school have to go to Salvador. Many don't (my mae there only had a 4th grade education) but Talita loves school. She gets the boat (a free service of the government for students) at six in the morning and heads to class. She doesn't go to the school right by the boat ramp like many of the kids because it isn't as good of a school and she wanted something harder. So she gets off the boat and walks a couple miles to her school. She loves math and learning in general - I was reading some English with her - and wants to graduate. Her parents support her completely (I think they are ashamed of their own level of education) and she really wants to go to college. I hope she makes it but right now the odds are not with her. TWO people from the island have ever graduated from college. And one of them is the director of my program.

In the morning we went to the beach and I fulfilled one of my goals for my trip - I played soccer on the beach. It was awesome. A lot more screaming small children than the average game but absolutely hilarious. Talita and about ten of her little cousins were just running around having a blast. And they absolutely loved watching me chase the ball so they would "accidently" kick it past me and then just laugh and laugh when I kicked it back. One little five year old may be bound for futebol fame...he was kicking penalty kicks like it was his job. And when I asked him what team he would play for he got really shy and whispered "Vitoria" which is everyone's favorite Bahian team. Then he started screaming and laughing.

I went home and handed out some little presents and took off with a huge farewell from the whole family (including Mikey and Nina the hilarious dogs.) And the neighbor's donkey and the donkey's 17 DAY OLD baby. Cute. And quite a sendoff.

The boat to leave had a couple of little canoes to shuttle us back and forth. The resulting dry clothes were negated when some of the guys from UFBA decided to jump in. So almost everyone who was still wearing their swimsuit...and some who weren't launched themselves off the boat into the water. It felt delightful for sure even though there was a mad scramble for the boat when the professor's canoe started towards us.

And none of this is conducive to getting any work done whatsoever but that doesn't seem to have impacted the amount assigned. Oh and I am currently in an internet cafe with about twenty guys playing the same fantasy game. And SCREAMING in Portuguese when they die. I may have popped an eardrum so I hope you enjoy the tale.

PICTURES...going up slowly but surely
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2036266&l=aeed8&id=17704089

This means war

There is a graffiti was going on across the street from my apartment. I went to school a couple days ago and the wall separating a vacant lot from the street was decorated with the name of a candidate for vereador (city councilor) who lost. On my way home that night, three guys were slapping white paint up over the design and outlining letters and numbers for their candidate Joao (Joao and Pinheiro are in a runoff for mayor.) When I stopped by the pharmacy later on, the wall was covered in JOAO JOAO 15 JOAO 15 JOAO JOAO written in four foot tall letters. This morning on the way to the bus the JOAO (pronounced Jo-ow-o) was as proud and clear as ever BUT (duh duh duh) when I arrived home after class today there was a crew of two guys slapping white paint over JOAO. They were working pretty quickly, and literally slapping paint on...I had to dodge droplets as I walked along the sidewalk. One guy had already started outlining giant stars with the number 13 inside of them (Pinheiro's symbol) while the other manned the white. About a half hour later they were done. And Pinheiro takes the win (for tonight.) Who knows which one will adorn the wall by the time I make it back from school tomorrow.

Dia Das Criancas

Yesterday was Dia das Criancas which is basically like mother's and father's day...except not. Kids get presents and they basically play all day. So my friend and I went and sat in Campo Grande (this big plaza-oid park) and watched kids play. As you would say mom, it was a HOOT. The vendors had switched their wares for the day and instead of the typical bracelets were hauling around huge fishing nets completely filled with blown up rubber balls. Every color imaginable - including blends of different colors as well. And they were going for pretty cheap too, so EVERY kid had one. They were all bouncing them all around the square so it was basically a bouncy wonderland. And the huge statue of the Indian in the middle of the square became a climbing structure for a day. Usually people stay off the statue and all the little lions and figures decorating it but on Sunday it was the playground of choice.

It was hilarious to watch all the kids playing with the toys they got but to me the coolest thing was watching all the kids who were obviously from very different economic situations play together. There were little kids running around in brand new outfits holding onto new dolls and kicking balls with little boys in worn clothes with a hole in one knee. One little boy in particular (obviously from a poorer home) was kicking his ball as far up into the air as he could and then yelling and running to catch it. A bunch of other little boys got interested and soon there was a pack of little five year olds chasing a big green ball. One would kick it and they all would start screaming and run to get it, dodging popcorn stands and other kids on their new trikes.

Some enterpreneurs had set up trampolines in the playground area of the plaza and were charging um real for a turn at jumping. Since safety rules are decidedly lax here, all three trampolines had at least twenty kids tumbling all over each other. Quite a sight to see.

Also at one point a homeless man came jogging through the square with bags of cans for recycling. He stopped near a little girl (maybe three years ols and dressed entirely in pink) who was bouncing her pink ball, set his bags down and motioned for her to throw the ball to him. She did immediately and he bounced it back, getting her to jump higher and higher every time. Her parents watched from a nearby bench, maybe a little wary, but smiling and laughing as well. After a few minutes he grabbed his bags and trotted off across the plaza, heading out to pick up more trash. But that was a Kodak moment if I ever saw one.

Magic

Walking around the city today I stopped at a store to talk with a man who was selling paintings. Amid the many Brazilian and afro-Brazilian culture type paintings, he had TWO portrait style shots of Obama in front of the White House. I started cracking up because it caught me so off guard, but there he was grinning at me. And, seeing me looking at it, many passing Brazilians started talking excitedly about Obama. The asking price was a little steep (even the "student discount"was a little up there) but it was exciting nonetheless.

I discovered the magic word to use on Brazilian men. "Sou lesbica." It works like a charm every time. Since latin culture is so machismo, apparently the being a lesbian is enough to stop even the most aggressive guys in their tracks. Awesome.

The problem with withdrawing money is that you have to get a ton at once so you only get one convenience fee. But then you get it all in hundreds which means you HAVE to spend some in order to break them. So after exchanging plentiful amounts of money, my friend Alison and I wandered into a restaurant we never would have considered walking into twenty minutes earlier. There was literally a waiter for every table. And they mixed the salad dressing in front of us. And we were so close to the water that it felt like we were eating from a boat. Needless to say we split something (delicious, of course) and ate very slow. I enjoyed the fact that VEGETABLES were included. What a treat.

A study in contrast

From the window of my bus. Another bus with an ad on the back for the one of the fanciest churrascurias (Brazilian steakhouse) in Salvador pulled up to a stoplight next to a group of men begging for change or food at the intersection. The men in the ad were dressed in full costume - gaucho style pants, tux shirts and ties and big hats - while the men outside the bus weren't wearing shoes, had ripped shirts and pants that were falling off. And they were asking for ten cents (about four American cents) so they could buy a piece of bread.

Also to get to one of the nicest beaches in the city (Playa do Flamenco - I went today) you have to drive on the highway between the two halves of one of the biggest favelas (slums) in town. About five minutes after passing the barrio you pull out onto the highway that parallels the coast and is lined by people's second (sometimes third) homes. From broken bicycles to BMWs in a few kilometers.

Oh and tomorrow is Children's day. Outside the Bompreco (which is advertising life size dolls for girls and mini replica motorcylces for boys) were two boys that were about thirteen years old. They had pulled up a mattress and were sleeping in the corner where the stairs meet the sidewalk.

My future

My future has been planned out for me. My mae has decided I will be president of the U.S. She didn’t really consult me on this and it was decided promptly after she told me I would make a good housewife. I was washing the dishes and filling up the water pitcher to put in the fridge – apparently that gives me real housewife potential. But anyway, she said that although I would make a great dona de casa, I would be president instead. She said I will be kinder on immigrants and I will mention her in my inaugural speech. So watch out USA, your future leader has been decided – by a fifty one year old Brazilian woman.

Today as my bus was attempting to get enough speed to make it up a huge hill on the way to class, I decided that it is a miracle that the bus system has so few problems here. There is huge potential for trouble – just imagine old buses (stick shift, of course) packed with people, trying to make it up hills that require stairs for pedestrians. Sometimes it seems a little hairy – you can feel it when the driver is searching for a lower gear going up some hills and the bus slowly starts to reverse direction. A bit of an “oh boy I shouldn’t have sat at the back of the bus today” moment. But then they always pull through in the end (at least the ones I’ve been on always have.) And if someone can handle one of those buses I would trust them to handle absolutely anything. Four trailer semi, racecar, rocket

Not your typical day in class

Ok so for a serious tug on this girl's heart let me take you to the Institução Beneficiente Conceição Macêdo, a daycare for kids with HIV and AIDS. Well first we had a Portuguese test but instead of afternoon seminar at the university we headed out to IBCM in a very poor region of Salvador. We started out having a lecture by one of the men who helps operate the institution - a series of programs directed at HIV positive people and their families (including programs directed at teens, kids, street families, single moms and more.) He talked to us about the culture, stigma and myths still associated with being soro positivo (literally=positive serum) in Brazil. He told us a lot about the program and this particular branch's function as a safe place and center for the community. Then we went upstairs and toured the preschool, afterschool, play and nursery rooms. The whole building was made to feel so bright and happy. There were murals everywhere - planes, animals and flowers on every wall - plus where there weren't murals there was kid-produced art. In the first room there was a group of three year olds having naptime. Instead of the everyone on their own mat phenomenon that exists in the US there was a pile of nine or ten little bodies sprawled across a couple of matresses in the corner. It was pretty darn cute to say the least. Then of course there were the two little boys (who I suspect exist in every daycare in the world) who were refusing to nap and instead wrestling with each other in the other corner.

In the next two rooms were four, five and six year olds who were making pictures for Dia das Crianças (Children's Day - October 12th.) They were more than happy to have us join in, or in the case of my friend Lucas, more than happy to play hide and seek under the table instead of coloring. They were so energetic and excited about everything that it was really hard to imagine that every single one of them is HIV positive. They have different levels of knowledge about exactly what it is they have, but everyone knows it is something that sets them apart from other kids. And it is pretty hard to avoid that fact when you look in the clinic room. A room tucked in the corner and completely filled with medicine. Most of the kids don't have to take anti-retrovirals now because the virus hasn't manifested itself as AIDS yet but a few already do. It is very hard to describe the feeling I got from looking at a bunch of little kids laughing and playing just like they should be, only looking at them with the knowledge that their life expectancy is significantly lower than the (already low) life expectancy of their peers through no fault of their own. Every kid in this daycare was born to an HIV infected mother (and we learned that many mothers here actually get HIV WHILE they are pregnant because many spouses see it as an opportune time to cheat. They were hilarious and fun and everything that kids everywhere are. I can't fully reconcile the two realities that exist in the same building.

Many of the volunteers (as well as the seriously underpaid staff) are HIV positive themselves. They know what it is like to make a life for yourself with the disease and all are inspiring people, ranging from gay men to transvestites to the more typical preschool worker - youngish women. They know the realities of the community they work in because they live there themselves. They understand the hunger and the many risks of living in one of the most poor (and one of the more dangerous) neighborhoods in the city but still bring love and patience to work with them.

Brazil's health system provides an HIV test to every pregnant mother for free (if they choose to - and most do) as well as anti-retrovirals for those who test positive. This system has seriously reduced the number of children born HIV positive because if every step of the process is followed correctly there is a 98% chance that the child will be born HIV free. Pretty impressive. And yet there are daycares full of children born with the virus. And many programs specifically for those HIV positive victims of child prostitution.
Wow. An emotional wallop of a day.

And now, just because I feel I must even this out a bit I shall talk of rain and candy. First of all - I am finally realizing that it is spring here. Luckily most of the rain chooses to fall at night. All of the rest of the rain tends to fall (more specifically POUR) precisely from the time I step off the bus in the morning until the time I arrive at class. And it doesn't matter whether I am late or early - it just waits for me and the floods unleash as I thank the bus driver and hop down.

And now for the candy. They just don't make it like this in the U.S. And they don't sell it everywhere either. "Serenata de Amor" or serenade of love is most likely the greatest of them all. Not to mention the most fun to order. "I would like one love serenade please." It cracks me up every time. It seems to amuse my favorite vendor too. I come like clockwork after lunch for my serenade.

I can't sit while I write this because my sunburn is burn-y

I have become very fond of the way Brazil treats its elderly and its pregnant women. (I am sure elderly pregnant women would be treated well too, I just haven't seen it yet.) In every major grocery store there is a lane dedicated exclusively to the elderly, people with disabilities, pregnant women and women with babies. There are chairs and a little cordoned off waiting area so that no one faints or has trouble when all they really want to do is buy some milk. I think this is swell. Also on the bus, everyone gets on through the back door except for little kids traveling alone and all the other special categories above. They get on through the front door so that the driver can make sure everything is ok and everyone is situated before taking off.

Another thing about the bus - when I go to school in the morning it is usually ridiculously crowded. And I mean your armpit in my face and my elbow in your side crowded. But it is certainly always interesting. And I have some bus buddies now - people that I only see when I get the bus to school, but I see them every time I do. Always a friendly exchange or two to make sure I'm awake and can actually form Portuguese sentences that early. Plus (since I very rarely get a seat until nearly the end of the ride) someone who is sitting ALWAYS offers to take my stuff and hold it for me. Sometimes people who are sitting will have three or four bags stacked on their laps so that the standers don't have to deal with a bag and trying not to fall over all at once. It is quite nice and makes for a much more pleasant ride (the way the bus drivers navigate the streets watching a bag and holding on tight enough at the same time is quite an undertaking.)

And this goes out to you mom: I am enjoying my classes a lot. And in fact learning a surprising amount. I am certainly glad my classes are so entertaining because some days it is very difficult to force myself indoors and I can't imagine doing so to go to classes I didn't like. I am learning a ton about the ups and downs of the Brazilian health care system (SUS) which guarantees free health care for all Brazilian citizens. It is a pretty impressive undertaking and in some ways has turned out to be a little too impressive an undertaking for the current level of funding and infrastructure. However, it is constantly being analyzed and changed in hopes that at some point it will work well for everyone. And the fact that any Brazilian can walk into any public hospital (and most private ones) and have treatment guaranteed is pretty important. The poor don't have to make a choice between food and medicines they need as happens so many other places around the world.

Oh and this too mom: I am enjoying my mae and my living situation. She certainly has her religious beliefs that I don't share as well as some perspectives on social issues that I don't really agree with but what it comes down to for me is this: She has welcomed me 100% into her home and her life and is always excited to talk to me about anything. She makes me feel welcome and a part of the family and isn't afraid to laugh with me or spend time joking around. She is doing her darnedest to fatten me up and is always delighted when I do the dishes. She got way more than 4 reals of joy out of a plant I bought her and it is sitting (along with the picture I sent before I got here) in a place of honor in the living room. She talks some politics with me and has a lot to say about US immigration policy (which has directly affected her family and friends) and the current economy. She likes to talk about clothes and shoes even though she has a very modest wardrobe and she likes to show off the needlepoint and bags that she sews to make some extra money. She enjoys commenting on how white I am (though now I am more red than white) and joking that when I get back no one will recognize me. And she always tells me to wear sunscreen, be careful, watch my bag every time I leave. Along with a hug and kiss on each cheek. Acho que minha mae e gente boa.