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.)