Alright, so its basically been a month since I've left home, and surprisingly I'm not as homesick as I thought I'd be considering this is the longest I've ever been away. It definitely changes day to day.. and last week it was pretty brutal. I'm living in buttfuck Brazil, and sometimes just thinking about it.. it's pretty amazing. At other times, it sucks major balls because there's shit all to do here.
Last week sucked, this week has been pretty good so far.
Being away from home has made me realize that it's the little things that make all the difference. A couple nights ago some of the boys had some of us over and they made pancakes for us for dinner. It totally picked everyone up being able to eat food that was familiar and being together.
A couple nights before that one of the host families for another pair of guys went away for the weekend, so we went over to their house, hung out in front of the fire, and watched music videos (michael jackson, spice girls, backstreet boys, the village people, abba with some random brazilian bands) and had hot chocolate.
You can only lie around in bed and read for so long.
It's also been raining a lot, so taking walks are sort of out of the question.
At the end of the week there's a festival coming to town - Mercomix, so I hope to be able to get some shopping done.. if there's anything you want my to bring back for you, you should let me know to keep an eye out for whatever it is for you!
I'll update again soon! (I hope.. and hopefully with pictures!)
Tchau!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/projrondon2008
i dont have any of my own pictures on there (but soon!) i think all of them are taken by my counterpart carmel, so check it out anyways!
i dont have any of my own pictures on there (but soon!) i think all of them are taken by my counterpart carmel, so check it out anyways!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
part of the group at thais' house in porto alegre
everyone on the bus during the 8 hour bus ride from porto alegre to manoel viana
me and my counterpart carmel!
everyone at tia laura, the hottest and only hang out in manoel viana.
studying portuguese and drinking hot chocolate.
ayman showing elliott some love outside CIANE E-A-M and the great emu adventure
it's our first weekend here in manoel viana and our supervisors have decided to go out of town for the 2 days.
after a killer week of orientation and being in constant conflict over stupid things thanks to cultural differences in the classroom, it was time to bond a little bit with each other.
last night one of the host families to 2 of the girls in our group (marie-claude and nicole) put on a party at their home, where we had churrasciaro, danced, and drank.
alcohol here is unbelievably cheap.
you can buy a HUGE bottle of beer (600mL) for less than a dollar canadian. you can also get a 40 or bacardi for about 10$.
our brazilian countrerparts taught us how to samba (or tried to.. i apparently don't have the ability to dance to anything but electro), and we danced to classic rock and brazilian music all night.
we played dancing games, slow danced with each other, took retarded pictures, made things intensely awkward on purpose and relived all those awkward dance moments from middle school.
today we all met up at 10am and one of the host mothers to another pair of girls (jessie and meribel) chartered a bus for all 18 of us to go out to a farm just outside of the city.
the bus ride out to the farm was completely unreal. i cant even describe the feeling. there were green fields everywhere, cows running around, we saw fucking emus running, and the bus had to stop for sheep crossing the road.
for the last 5 days we've been confined to this city and trying to find out how things work here, but today it was like i finally got to see brazil proper.
there were definitely some points where i wished that everyone from at home was here to see al thsi with me.
i spent most of the day wandering out in the fields with 2 of the canadians (aymoman and elliott). when we got to the farm, everyone decided it would be an amazing idea to trek the 3.5 kilometers out in the fields to the river.. elliott, ayman and i started out later, and just ended up trekking out there on our own after we'd lost the others.
it was amazing, there were fields of grass and rolling hills and random sand dunes once we got closer to the water.
on the way back we took a wrong turn and ended up on some really wet and marshy land. long story short - as much as the boys tried to help me by lifting me to hop over fences and stuff, they couldn't help me jump cleanly over muddy ditches. in the end by the time we got back to the farm (some 2.5 hours later) we spent the rest of the day running around barefoot in the grass, and i had to borrow pants from Lorna. my converse were soaked through with mud.
aymoman found this amazing skull that everyone thought belonged to a cat, and we randomly wrote our names and drew the canadian flag in the sand at the sand dunes for someone to find the next time anyone decides to go that far out.
today has probably been the best day so far. i spent the rest of the day just sitting outside and soaking up the sun and the view.
i have some pretty great photos, but i dont have a cable to upload them with. ill eventaully get them on here.. but for now, i'll leave it with this giant block of text.
after a killer week of orientation and being in constant conflict over stupid things thanks to cultural differences in the classroom, it was time to bond a little bit with each other.
last night one of the host families to 2 of the girls in our group (marie-claude and nicole) put on a party at their home, where we had churrasciaro, danced, and drank.
alcohol here is unbelievably cheap.
you can buy a HUGE bottle of beer (600mL) for less than a dollar canadian. you can also get a 40 or bacardi for about 10$.
our brazilian countrerparts taught us how to samba (or tried to.. i apparently don't have the ability to dance to anything but electro), and we danced to classic rock and brazilian music all night.
we played dancing games, slow danced with each other, took retarded pictures, made things intensely awkward on purpose and relived all those awkward dance moments from middle school.
today we all met up at 10am and one of the host mothers to another pair of girls (jessie and meribel) chartered a bus for all 18 of us to go out to a farm just outside of the city.
the bus ride out to the farm was completely unreal. i cant even describe the feeling. there were green fields everywhere, cows running around, we saw fucking emus running, and the bus had to stop for sheep crossing the road.
for the last 5 days we've been confined to this city and trying to find out how things work here, but today it was like i finally got to see brazil proper.
there were definitely some points where i wished that everyone from at home was here to see al thsi with me.
i spent most of the day wandering out in the fields with 2 of the canadians (aymoman and elliott). when we got to the farm, everyone decided it would be an amazing idea to trek the 3.5 kilometers out in the fields to the river.. elliott, ayman and i started out later, and just ended up trekking out there on our own after we'd lost the others.
it was amazing, there were fields of grass and rolling hills and random sand dunes once we got closer to the water.
on the way back we took a wrong turn and ended up on some really wet and marshy land. long story short - as much as the boys tried to help me by lifting me to hop over fences and stuff, they couldn't help me jump cleanly over muddy ditches. in the end by the time we got back to the farm (some 2.5 hours later) we spent the rest of the day running around barefoot in the grass, and i had to borrow pants from Lorna. my converse were soaked through with mud.
aymoman found this amazing skull that everyone thought belonged to a cat, and we randomly wrote our names and drew the canadian flag in the sand at the sand dunes for someone to find the next time anyone decides to go that far out.
today has probably been the best day so far. i spent the rest of the day just sitting outside and soaking up the sun and the view.
i have some pretty great photos, but i dont have a cable to upload them with. ill eventaully get them on here.. but for now, i'll leave it with this giant block of text.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
asians
when we arrived in manoel viana the other night, chris asked me how it felt to be the only asian in like a 10 000 mile radius.
people keep talking about earthquakes in china and making slant-eye jokes.
i fucking hated being reminded of my ethnicity at home, but here i smile and dont say anything..
im getting sick of being amiable and trying to be polite and getting everyone to like me.
i came here to be independent, and to live but instead i find myself worrying about what time i should be home so my host mother doesnt get worried, and i worry about being alone in the town..
im not missing home but i want my regular routine to start.
im happy with the group that we have, the brazilians are crazy - we break out into spontaneous song a lot, and really loudly.
i know a lot of the people here are missing home, but im not.. i just cant pin down the feeling hat i have..
people keep talking about earthquakes in china and making slant-eye jokes.
i fucking hated being reminded of my ethnicity at home, but here i smile and dont say anything..
im getting sick of being amiable and trying to be polite and getting everyone to like me.
i came here to be independent, and to live but instead i find myself worrying about what time i should be home so my host mother doesnt get worried, and i worry about being alone in the town..
im not missing home but i want my regular routine to start.
im happy with the group that we have, the brazilians are crazy - we break out into spontaneous song a lot, and really loudly.
i know a lot of the people here are missing home, but im not.. i just cant pin down the feeling hat i have..
Monday, July 7, 2008
Bom Dia!
I left Toronto bright and early on Monday morning.
The 6 hour train ride to Montreal was interesting to say the least.
Everything that had happened the week before and the night before ran through my head and I wasn't sure I'd be able to be away from 6 months and then come back and fit in where I did before.
But after a week if being uprooted every couple of days, meeting new people, forming new bonds and then being forced to leave them behind, I think I'm finally settling in.
I arrived in Montreal at noon on Monday, took a taxi to the CWY headquarters and met up with the 40 other people who would be going to Brazil.
We then left for a 4 day camp where all of us stayed in the same chalet, had orientation and found out which of us would be going to the same communities.
The camp was amazing. The location was beautiful and we all got really close. (40 young people generally unsupervised in a camp, left to their own devices? The chalet was disgusting by the time we left)
After that we left Montreal and took a flight to Toronto - I was home! But only for an hour. From Toronto we took a 12 hour flight to Sao Paulo, and from Sao Paulo we took a 1 and a half hour flight to Porto Alegre.
We were greeted at the airport by cheers, hugs and kisses from our Brazilian counterparts.. and we were forced to say goodbye to the friends that we've made from the 4 days of camp and the 30 hour journey.
My group of 9 going to Manoel Viana separated from the rest of the group and took a bus to a farm where we spent 2 days trying to communicate with our Brazilian counterparts via broken Portuguese, English and French.
We left the farm yesterday morning, and after an 8 hour bus ride to Manoel Viana filled with food and bracelet making, we arrived to the community.
The family that I'm staying with consists of a single mother and a son. My host mother is a teacher and she teaches english privately at home, so I'm lucky that we're able to communicate. My counterpart for the next 6 month's name is Carmel. She's into photography as well, and she was actually the first person I talked to before leaving. I'm really happy with her as my partner for the entire experience, apparently according to the brazilian supervisor, we're twin souls. so i'm looking forward to going on some photographic adventures together.
I can't say that i'm missing home too much yet. there's too much going on right now to acutally sit down and evaluate how i feel, although i did get slightly emotional unpacking all my stuff this morning. after a week of living out of my suitcase, unpacking into drawers and closets means that i'm going to be here for awhile.
I'm sorry if my english kind of sucks. i'm slowly losing the ability to speak english, but my ability to speak french is improving and my portuguese is improving rapidly as well. I've gotten into the habit of speaking broken english to everyone.
I'm signing off now. Everyones going to the bar..?
Ill update with photos when i can. :]
The 6 hour train ride to Montreal was interesting to say the least.
Everything that had happened the week before and the night before ran through my head and I wasn't sure I'd be able to be away from 6 months and then come back and fit in where I did before.
But after a week if being uprooted every couple of days, meeting new people, forming new bonds and then being forced to leave them behind, I think I'm finally settling in.
I arrived in Montreal at noon on Monday, took a taxi to the CWY headquarters and met up with the 40 other people who would be going to Brazil.
We then left for a 4 day camp where all of us stayed in the same chalet, had orientation and found out which of us would be going to the same communities.
The camp was amazing. The location was beautiful and we all got really close. (40 young people generally unsupervised in a camp, left to their own devices? The chalet was disgusting by the time we left)
After that we left Montreal and took a flight to Toronto - I was home! But only for an hour. From Toronto we took a 12 hour flight to Sao Paulo, and from Sao Paulo we took a 1 and a half hour flight to Porto Alegre.
We were greeted at the airport by cheers, hugs and kisses from our Brazilian counterparts.. and we were forced to say goodbye to the friends that we've made from the 4 days of camp and the 30 hour journey.
My group of 9 going to Manoel Viana separated from the rest of the group and took a bus to a farm where we spent 2 days trying to communicate with our Brazilian counterparts via broken Portuguese, English and French.
We left the farm yesterday morning, and after an 8 hour bus ride to Manoel Viana filled with food and bracelet making, we arrived to the community.
The family that I'm staying with consists of a single mother and a son. My host mother is a teacher and she teaches english privately at home, so I'm lucky that we're able to communicate. My counterpart for the next 6 month's name is Carmel. She's into photography as well, and she was actually the first person I talked to before leaving. I'm really happy with her as my partner for the entire experience, apparently according to the brazilian supervisor, we're twin souls. so i'm looking forward to going on some photographic adventures together.
I can't say that i'm missing home too much yet. there's too much going on right now to acutally sit down and evaluate how i feel, although i did get slightly emotional unpacking all my stuff this morning. after a week of living out of my suitcase, unpacking into drawers and closets means that i'm going to be here for awhile.
I'm sorry if my english kind of sucks. i'm slowly losing the ability to speak english, but my ability to speak french is improving and my portuguese is improving rapidly as well. I've gotten into the habit of speaking broken english to everyone.
I'm signing off now. Everyones going to the bar..?
Ill update with photos when i can. :]
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