Getting my nerd on

A decent bit has transpired since my last post, though it doesn't make for a particularly exciting read, so i'll try not to bore you with too many details. But soon after my last post, I moved out of Daniel's house to go live in a hostel in Copacabana. I wanted to connect with the backpacker "scene" in Rio and find some other travelers with whom I could partake in touristic things. Upon a few hours of checking in to the hoste, i found myself walking to the beach with twelve other backpackers from the hostel to attend a free concert of dj tiesto, evidently a famous house DJ from the netherlands. With the sun setting over a lush green hill on the edge of a beach with thousands of well-tanned people, It was a beautiful scene and one that could be found in few other cities in the world. Here is a photo from the evening.


I started a portuguese course at a local language school on Monday, a decision I made late Sunday evening. So each morning this week, I've been getting up at 7 am to take a bus to downtown Rio where the school is located. There were about fifteen other people starting the course that day, many of whom had just arrived in Rio and were staying with host families through the school. It is a completey different way of traveling to a country, more structured, less glamorous, but with greater opportunities to connect with the country in an authentic way. I find myself somewhere in between the two.

I have enjoyed the class a lot, mainly because I enjoy the structure and process of learning a language and also the sense of power and accomplishment that being able to communicate in more than one and two-word phrases can bring. Inspired by my progress, I asked the school to set me up with a host family as well so I could practice my portuguese more intensely. The family lives in the Copacabana neighborhood less than two blocks from the beach. Each evening this week, I've sat down with them to eat a homecooked brasilian meal (usually rice, beans, some meat, and potatoes) and try to practice my new found portuguese knowledge. Today, I was able to chat with my host mother about the cultural differences between brasil and america. I think I understood most of what she was saying.

The class ends this week though I will probably enroll for one more week. I also have made a few contacts with the director of a foundation here in Brasil and with the coordinator of the social responsibility program for Vale, a huge Brasilian mining and energy company that has an extensive and sophisticated program for helping the communities in which it operates. I am going to meet with them this week.