3

I´m very tired already!

This morning, for breakfast, I had the normal fruit, coffee, and bread with a new addition. My host-mom took a long thin loaf of bread, cut it in circular slices, poured milk in the center, dipped it in whipped eggs and fried it. Kind of like french toast... only AMAZING-ER. :P

I feel like it´s going to be easy to get into the language here. I´m picking up a lot of things already, and it´s only day 3.

In 45 mins I do capoeira at the school! I´m excited to learn in a different place.

For lunch I ate with Greg from Queens and Zderrek from Austria. Zderrek and I ate at Casa de Pão and Greg met us there once he brought Subway (in his defence he´s been here for 4 weeks already). Before Greg joined us, we spoke about differences in countries, and how his country views the US to be very conservative, but some other places even more so.

I hope to see the historic center, Pelirinho, tonight. I have to find some school friends to show me around.

Dia 2

Today has been a long day already, and it´s only 3pm!

My first Portuguese class was really interesting. I was able to pick up a lot of new words and better yet, I was able to use the stuff I already know. There are two others in my class: One is Bulent who is from Turkey and speaks a little German, and the other is Melanie who is from Belgim and speaks French, English, German, and Spanish! The class is entirely in Portuguese and is easy sometimes, and difficult some other times.

After class, I ate lunch at Melanie´s casa. We had bread, salami, and cheese. All of it was very good. Afterward we walked around, and she showed me a fabric shop, a grocery, and a bakery. She lives with her boyfriend in an apartment near school, and she´s had two weeks to get to know the area with him.

So they don´t have squrills here, but they do have TINY MONKIES! Yes!!!! I´ll get a picture of one asap!

Tomorrow I start capoeira. I am very excited to try the art in Brazil! Also, I will find out more information about where I will stay once I am not with my host family, and I get to pick where I would like to volunteer in Salvador. I don´t know what is available yet.

I haven´t run into any street music, but I´ve been a little nervous to venture on my own just yet. I hope to meet some of the other students at Diálogo tomorrow, and maybe some who are interested in exploring more. I haven´t felt in danger on the streets here, and part of me feels like I just need to be aware, but just to be safe, I´ll make some friends first! :)

First morning in Salvador da Bahia!

Bom Dia!!

I sat next to Silvia on the flight from Miami to Salvador. She was visiting Recife, where her family lives. She was very nice, and was so interested in my project she offered her email address! Very cool.

Jailson picked me up from the airport, and I confess I was a little scared of the car ride to my host family. It seems that the lines dividing the lanes are only suggestions. I made it safely to my host family, and Jailson was very helpful in answering my questions about Salvador. The coolest part about the ride in was the random agogo playing I heard.

My host family is WONDERFUL! Sandra e Carlos take such good care of me and are very patient with my difficulty speaking português. Sandra served for breakfast pineapple, pão (bread), jam, café, e guava juice. Very tasty!

The street of the apartment is very loud and busy, so when I arrived at their casa at 730am, it was difficult to take a nap (I didn´t sleep much on the flight). After my nap I had a really cold shower :/ Either hot water isn´t needed this close to the equator, or I didn´t know how to work the shower that well. I think I heard a cuica being played while I was there. wow.

So for everyone wondering how I am: I´m FANTASTIC. This is going to be the best idea I´ve had until now! :)

Tchau!

(why are they playing early 90s American pop music in this internet cafe??)

9 days before Brazil!

Today I set up a meeting with the Student Health Services to get a traveler health exam. I think I will need to get a few vaccinces before I go: Yellow Fever, Hepatitis-A, Hepatitis-B, and Malaria prevention pills? Who knew, and holy sheeets those vaccinces aren't cheap! $170 just for the yellow fever one!

I want to work hard this week developing very specific research goals for this trip. I fear if I don't have a list of ideas going into this journey, I may waste time on topics that aren't very interesting for the journal editors of Ethnomusicology and Ethnomusicology Forum.

I wonder if they use A4 paper in Brazil... I'll need it to submit to the second journal I listed. Apparently they are a Brittish journal. Interesting!

TLO Statement

So, I bet you're wondering what exactly I'm doing while in Brazil as well as what I'm hoping to get out of it. Below is my written statement for the Univeristy of North Florida's Transformational Learning Opportunity Grant Application. I hope it gives the best description for your understanding!

***

"As is typical of any study abroad, I expect to widen my perception of the world and hope to grow substantially from the experience in this study abroad in Brazil. What is unique about this study abroad from those currently offered at the University of North Florida is I will be participating in community outreach in Brazil. Brazil has one of the most extreme disparities between the rich and the poor in the world. Ten percent of the richest people in Brazil own more than that of the poorest fifty percent. These figures terrify me, and I desperately want to see what it takes to help close the gap.
Additional personal development I predict relates to my degree focus in percussion performance. Brazil, particularly the northeastern state of Bahia, has a rich culture and musical heritage, and the Brazilian martial art capoeira is a part of this. Capoeira involves the heavy use of percussion in its performance, and as a percussion performance major, this is very interesting to me. Since I will soon be graduating with my Bachelor of Music degree at UNF, I have been thinking heavily about my future and have found an interest in ethnomusicology. Professionally, what I hope to accomplish in Brazil is to conduct research on the music of Capoeira and compile the data and materials into an article to be published in Ethnomusicology and Ethnomusicology Forum, nationally recognized ethnomusicology journals. Overall, this experience will transform who I am, how I think about poverty and music, and where I will lead myself and others in this world."

Donate Button!

International Travel isn't cheap, and to make my trip to Brazil as educational and productive as possible, I need donations to help me along.

These donations will go towards international round-trip flight, a Brazilian visa, food, shelter, lessons with Brazilian percussionists, and state-side care for my cats and belongings.

Every little bit helps, even $5 :)