Brazil!

Hi everyone!!!!!!!
So I typed up this whole blog about Brazil and I thought I sent it to my blog but then I checked and it didn’t get posted, so sorry about that! Didn’t mean to not tell everyone about my time in Brazil!

Well we’re on our way to Africa now and I’m super excited!!! We left Brazil on Thursday night. I had a really great time there! A lot of students went on trips to the Amazon and Rio, I stayed in Salvador though partially out of lack of money to do a more expensive trip, but it was really fun to see what there is to see in Salvador! It’s a great city, very pretty and really nice people! The weather was warm but not unbearably hot like the Bahamas, haha. We got there on the morning of the 7th. Which turned out to be Brazil’s independence day, so that was pretty cool! Not a lot was open but there were some parades and things going on in the streets in celebration! So on Sunday we just kind of wandered around the city a little bit, checking out what there is to see and we also went on a hunt for a place to change our money.

Salvador is divided up into the upper city and the lower city, and there is an elevator which connects the two. It costs 5 centavos (around 5 cents USD) so it’s cheap and the upper city is really beautiful! I hope you all have a chance to check out my photos that I put up on flickr! I couldn’t post ALL of my photos but I tried to pick the best ones and put those up.  So Monday was cool, I went on an SAS trip to visit a family planning clinic which was interesting, we got to talk to a doctor who also does research there and it was interesting just to hear his views on things like abortion. It seems like Brazil is just as conflicted with controversial issues like that as the United States is right now. Speaking of the United States, it surprised me how many people were involved in American politics. I saw posters and even oil paintings of Obama all over the city and one day while I was in a market in the city a young guy about my age came up to me and my friends and he spoke very little english but he was asking us if were were from the ship and we said yes and he said to us “Oh you’re American then. Are you voting for Obama? You should. We like him here” It was so funny! The same sort of thing was common in the Bahamas as well. I have a picture of a poster that said “Bahama for Obama” haha...So it seems like other countries are really interested in the outcome of this upcoming election. Very interesting.

Another interesting thing in Salvador was that I felt particularly useful with the groups of students I was traveling with because I speak a little spanish. And although they speak portuguese, not spanish in Brazil the two languages are very similar so by speaking spanish and saying things slowly enough Brazilians could usually understand what I was saying and I could sometimes understand their portuguese if they spoke slowly enough. It was kind of fun to be able to overcome a language barrier just a little bit. Something I will not be so able to do in places like Namibia or Asia or India. I’m sure many people in those countries speak english as well but it’s fun to learn little bits of their language as well, I know it is appreciated when visitors at least try to speak the language of the country they are in. But the basis of all the classes on the ship are revolved at least somewhat around each country we are visiting so that’s helpful in learning a little about the history or culture of the places we are about to visit. So right now we are learning about Namibia and South Africa.

Anyways in Brazil Monday night I got to go to a dinner with a friend of the SAS program who lives in Salvador. It was a group of students from the ship as well as the dean, and this man who lives in Salvador and he brought several friends of his too including some Brazilian students. We ate at a fancy restaurant which was right on the water with all the walls made of glass. It was beautiful. And it was a fun evening to get to talk with students from Brazil who were our age. I had a funny conversation about iced tea with one of the students. He had never heard of making tea iced, and he thought that was so funny! On Tuesday I went to a Brazilian circus school which was SO fun! It’s a cool program which has been around for about 20 years and it gives kids a chance to do something fun with their time as well as encourages them to do that with their time instead of being on the streets. So the program is geared toward high risk kids and kids with no where else to go. It also helps kids go to school. But we got to see some of the circus stuff they do and then try it out ourselves! I wasn’t that great at some of them but the trapeze was probably my best one, I’d done things like that when I was younger in gymnastics classes. So that was a really fun afternoon!

Then most of the rest of my time in Salvador was spent seeing the sites and checking out little markets and things. We saw some beautiful old churches, which I took pictures of.

I’m really excited fo Africa...we get to Namibia on Friday morning, spend 5 days there, then 2 days on the ship and then we arrive in South Africa.

Oh, one other update is that the Vicarious Voyage program I am doing is getting underway now and it’s kind of exciting! I’ve got a partner in the program, her name is Lizzy and together we have adopted a 4th grade class in Virginia and we write them letters and postcards and send them packages. So today we got a package from our class and each kid had written us a letter! It was so fun to read all the letters, they’re so cute. And some of the kids drew us pictures of the ship and things they liked...it was really fun. So we’re putting together a package to send back to them with a letter to each kid and a couple little things from Brazil.

Ok, well that’s all for now...but keep sending emails! There’s only so many things to do on the ship while we’re at sea so I LOVE getting emails from you all! Send them to jmturcios@semesteratsea.net! Thanks!!

*Peace*

-Jennie