Do Nosso Fundo De Quintal

Well, reader(s), if you have managed to stick through with this blog to the end, then I hope you can now get on with your life, knowing that my blog has given you a sense of closure, completeness, maybe even...inner peace?

All jokes aside, this is my last blog post for this trip, but I must say that I have enjoyed it and want to do more blogging in the future. We'll see if I have time for anything this year, but certainly in the future.

Rio de Janeiro has been the location of amazing adventures, relaxing hangouts, and the beginning of so many friendships. All of the people I have met through the program (students and staff, alike) have been fantastic friends, fun companions for daring to extend outside my comfort zone, and they have all bettered my worldview and life for the diverse experiences and backgrounds they brought to this trip. I only hope that we all remain in contact.

Top 5 things I will miss about Rio/Brazil:

1. Fruits/juices -- yes, they exist in the U.S. too, but the pureness of the fruit here is incomparable (you actually have to add sugar rather than being bombarded with sweetness) and the accessibility (nearly every corner of every street) is unparalleled.

2. My host mom, Nilda -- living where I did was a wonderful experience. Nilda was always nice, patient, and caring, not to mention a stellar cook.

3. Pipoca, churros, and other delectable/cheap treats available across the beachside walk -- or less than a dollar, you can have the best churro ever made, complete with caramel or chocolate.

4. Maracujá caipirinhas -- while these are easy enough to make in their original lime flavor, it will be hard to duplicate the passion fruit ones.

5. All of the natural beauty, to which I am now practically desensitized -- seeing the most beautiful beaches surrounded by majestic mountains every day has made them seem almost commonplace. Though Madison is lovely, it will be an adjustment when I get back to the more gentle geography this week.

Top 5 things I'm fine to be leaving in Brazil: 

1. The traffic of Rio -- It will be nice returning to a place where traffic signals are actually obeyed, cars drive in lanes, and motorcyclists don't weave their way through cars. Every time I see that, I fear that one opened car door will extinguish a life swiftly.

2. Those random street corners that just smell like poop -- no further description needed. Gross!

3. The vast majority of everything being overpriced -- and if it's not overpriced, it is probably fake or artificial.

4. No public bathrooms or drinking fountains -- I've only found one public water fountain, and it was in the naval museum, somewhat appropriately.

5. Ham for breakfast, every breakfast -- I'm so ready for my all-American breakfast of dry cereal and calcium-infused OJ.

I finally was able to play with a bateria this week. My friend Daniel and I went to the Fundição Progresso in Lapa to take a free class with Bangala Fumenga and we loved it. Daniel had not played percussion formally, but still enjoyed working out the caixa (snare drum) rhythms with me and some other sambistas. My only regret about the experience was that we hadn't gone there sooner.

Today, my last full day in Brazil, I walked about a mile to the Lagoa, which is Rio's main lake. Upon seeing the lake, I was struck with an intense feeling of what Brazilians call saudade. There is no direct translation for this word, but it essentially means an intense longing in which the person is both happy to have the memories and missing whatever is the subject of those memories. For me, my saudades had a double subject. I was already missing Brazil, even though I hadn't left it yet, and remembering all the good times I've had here. At the same time, looking at this beautiful (but somewhat understated, for the other natural beauty in this area) lake made me think about the city to which I am returning. Having been away for six weeks, I know I will have to adjust to a few things when I come back, but I'm ready to face the many challenges this year will bring, and have fun in doing so.

Before I put an end to this Brazil blog business, I want to review my initial three goals.

1. Stop obsessing over how much sleep I get. -- Well, I haven't been nearly as worried about it, but at the same time, I have still been getting around 8 hours of sleep on weeknights. However, I have been averaging 4 on weekends, with a substantial helping of naps sprinkled in there. I am happy to say that I haven't been worrying about sleep amounts at all. Therefore, my nights out have been more fun as a whole.

2. Learn how to dance (or at least begin this arduous task). -- Ok, to be fair, I started pretty low on the talent chart, but I do definitely feel that I've improved and gained confidence, especially with Brazilian samba/forró dancing as well as salsa. With hip-hop and American music, it can still be hard to maintain that dancing intensity, but I'm ready to continue this long-term project back in the states. 

3. Explore. -- I probably could have done a bit more of exploring on my own, but I am very proud of how much I branched out with my friends. Whether on the beach, with the nightlife, or in the city centers and neighborhoods, we intrepidly set out to discover special places and natural wonders, uncertain of exactly how to get there, and sometimes we would be unable to find them. But even on those occasions, we broke out of our comfort zones and strengthened our friendships. 

Well, this blog seems somewhat incomplete, in that I never filled you in on the other things I did the last week of my trip, but I'd be happy to tell you in person. Am I lazy? Maybe. Do I feel that I'm saying in this blog post what's important about this last week/my trip as a whole? Definitely.

Me enjoying the Jardín Botánico in Botafogo last week. Beautiful gardens!

(Also, thanks for reading. I hope you got something out of it. Some of the posts were funnier than others. Some were raunchier or included inside jokes and obscure music/pop culture references, but I hope you were inspired to check out some of them to understand what I meant. If not, that's fine too.)

Explode Coração

Hello blog readers. Before I go any further, I'd like to apologize for slacking off on this whole blog thing. I suppose I've been too busy to document the trip as meticulously as I was at the beginning. As I begin to write this post, I have only eight full days left of this trip, and they will be jam-packed with activities, gift buying, and the finest fruit juices. As a result, this may be my second-to-last (or last?!?) post in what has been a fun blog to write. I'll try to make these last few posts count, because you're worth it (yes, you).

I know how much everyone likes random lists! Here are some.

Top 5 music/location combinations of the last week: 

1. "Let That Show" by The Pernice Brothers/ Praia Manguinhos -- this poppy, jangly break-up song provided the perfect sonic backdrop to a pensive beach walk in Buzios. As the sun set on the painted boats and the lavish summer homes, the lyrics "a big wheel was turning/ a great gap was burgeoning" really resonated.

2. Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band/ Bus Ride from Buzios back to Rio -- Passing through the favelas off the highway, seeing literally thousands of small paper kites (called pipas here) flying from the shanty houses and grassy areas, I began thinking about the so-called 'American Dream' (given how the album practically is the US if it could make a rock album) and how I would define a 'Brazilian Dream' as an outsider who had spent a small amount of time here. My profound soliloquy was interrupted when I saw a chubby little kid jumping on a trampoline right off the highway and waving to all the cars. It was pretty funny, for some reason.

3. "Suck", "Stutter" by Yuck/ Copacabana in the early morning -- one night, I woke up two hours before my alarm went off. Unable to go back to bed, I perused my iPod and decided upon one of my current favorite albums: Yuck, by Yuck. This 90's revival British band soothed my half-asleep, perplexed mind and allowed me one more REM cycle before having to go to class.

4. St. Vincent (various songs)/ lazy afternoon in our condo at Buzios -- The inventive melodies and irresistible voice of Annie Clark accompanied my logic puzzles as I waited for dinner after a beachside morning.

5. "Untitled" by Interpol segueing into Game Theory by The Roots/ That giant-ass bridge traversing the Guanabara Bay -- This is getting eerily specific, but somehow, the switch from moody guitar textures to vindictive verses of the gritty truths of inner city Philadelphia seemed to fit the low-key frenzy of a late night bus ride out of the city, recently infested with hordes of Catholics, ready to see Pope Francis.


Top 5 fruits I've had in Brazil:

1. Mango (Manga)
2. Strawberry (Morango)
3. Passion Fruit (Maracujá)
4. Guava (Goiaba)
5. Papaya (mamão) -- If Lisa and Ty are reading this, they're probably confused, but I guess I like this fruit now?

Top 5 beers I'm missing here in "the land of mediocre beer" (this is what their flag says, for those of you who don't speak Portuguese):

1. Lake Louie Warp Speed
2. Bell's Two Hearted
3. New Glarus Fat Squirrel
4. Ale Asylum Hopalicious
5. Lagunitas WTF

My thoughts, when I see another American here in Rio (one who isn't in the program):

Wait, what is SHE/HE doing here? God, speak portuguese, don't be such a tourist! Oh wait...I suppose I have been speaking english here as a tourist. But I'm better than them, right? Because at least I'm learning the language! Well, I guess I don't really know whether they know it or not. But come on! I was here before it was cool! Well, for all I know, they could be perfectly bilingual Brazilians. Man I could really go for a mango and some Lake Louie Warp Speed right now...

As you can see, my strong reactionary side and my rational, tolerant side have to hash it out upon seeing another gringo.



So, let me tell you a brief tale about Buzios.

In Buzios, we bought our own food at the grocery store (this was the first time that my host mom hadn't provided the meals for the day, which meant that I could finally not have ham for breakfast) and the cereal selection was subpar. I don't think cereal is much of a thing here. Of course, my traveling companions flipped out when they realized I don't use milk in my cereal. (A side note: being a non-cheese eater here is harder than I though it would be, but not nearly as hard as it is for my roommate Kegan, who is a vegetarian.)

We were fortunate to stay for free at one of my friend's host mom's condo very close to the beach. The unfortunate part is that the condo was designed for about 4 people to stay there, not 8. Despite this, we made the most of it, and had a fun time. The weather, albeit a little chilly, was mostly sunny for the long weekend, so we had some nice beach walks. The night life seemed limited, but fun. I avoided going to a club the last night we were there, because it cost 150 reais (about 75 dollars) to enter. My friends who did go ended up staying until 6:00 in the morning or something crazy like that. While I have been staying up later this trip (my initial goals will be addressed in the last blog post), that was too much for me.

Somehow, I ended up watching about five movies over the four days we were there, and let me tell you. Don't feel the need to see Drive Angry, starring Nic Cage. Ditto The Lady in Black with Daniel Radcliffe. Also, Death Race kinda sucks. Zombieland is pretty good. I also think that rom-coms have the potential to become an unhealthy addiction. They certainly aren't for me, but they portray life and romance in such a asinine way that your desire for things to work out that easily makes you think that you like such movies.

The last night in Buzios, the mosquitos attacked. Five days later, I'm still dealing with the aftermath. For a few days, I had a bite on my wrist the size of a small mound of mashed potatoes. Speaking of which, the potatoes here are really good, and the french fries actually taste like potatoes. (I don't really know why I'm all about food for this post. I just ate dinner...)

As you may be able to guess from my musical top 5 above, I really enjoyed the bus rides to and from Buzios. It offered time for air-conditioned contemplation, naps, and some of the most interesting contrasts in rural scenery and shoddy suburbs.

Upon getting back, we found Copacabana to be completely closed off to cars, buses, and taxis (due to the pope's World Youth Day). The metrô was similarly stymied, so we were forced to walk from Botafogo. If I hadn't had to carry my luggage for the 2-mile journey, it would have been quite fun, because we were able to walk down the city streets, through the mountain tunnels, against the heavy pedestrian traffic of international Catholic youths, who had seen the pope speak on the beach that morning. Unfortunately, toting the luggage made the walk a long slog and upon returning, I exhaustedly slumped down on my bed, ready to sleep for 12 hours straight.

Since this tired juncture, I have felt reinvigorated. I owe part of this newfound energy to the trip and getting out of the hectic city for a while. I owe part of it to the fact that this trip is almost over, both in that I'm excited to get back to the end of Madison's summer, and in that with my numbered days here, there is still so much to do!

This week so far, I have been to a fun samba gathering with one of the professors in the program and some fellow students in the program, I have traveled to Niteroi (read: the New Jersey to Rio's New York) and seen historic forts, and I attended a Brazilian soccer game at Maracanã. Of these events, I will say that they were all awesome, and I'd be happy to tell you about them in more detail when I see you next. Well, maybe I'll tell you about the soccer game during the next blog post, because it was pretty awesome.

That's all for now, friends and family.

Here is me next to a painted sewer pipe in Santa Tereza. It says Amar Mais, or Love More. I encourage you to follow its advice.