Comida americana

My family treats me to all of the meals I eat at home: breakfast, lunch and dinner. I really want to prepare an American meal for them, yet I have no idea what to cook, especially considering my limited cooking skills and the limited ingredients available in Brazil. I was thinking of making fajitas but am unsure about the tortilla situation, or thinking of preparing caprese but not sure what to serve as the main course. Maybe I'll make French toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast... any one know of a good french toas recepie? Any other ideas?

I also just realized that neither of my dinner ideas are "American," as fajitas are clearly Mexican and caprese Italian. So, I guess I'd like to prepare for them a "typical" California meal. Still looking for suggestions.

These people love their meat

I took a small break from traveling and spent the weekend in São José dos Campos... I'm still interested in seeing what this city has to offer in terms of night life. My conclusion: not much. BUT that's not to say that I'm not having a great time, I've been hanging out a lot with my host brother and sister as well as my Brazilian friends from ITA. I've decided that a fun/crazy night in São José is dependent on the people you're with, not the bar or restaurant you go to.

Life with the fam is going great. Everyone goes out of their way to make me feel at home. For example: someone always sits with me when I have a snack, even if he/she is not eating. I share a bathroom with Regiane and Ricardo (sis+bro)... when I first arrived I put my shower gear (shampoo conditioneroner, etc) on the tile floor. A couple nights later I entered the bathroom and found all of my shower stuff sitting on an additional shelf that my host Dad had constructed, the perfect dimensions and everything. If that wasn't enough, when I went to thank him, he followed me into the bathroom and pulled out drawer with at least 20 bars of soap inside. With a huge smile on his face, he said "now you'll never run out of soap! don't worry about buying anything!"

I also happen to be living with a real-life, Brazilian vegetarian, my host sister, Regiane. I know vegetarians run rampant and free in California, but believe me, it's not so common here. I, on the other hand, have caved into the delicious meat at Churrascos. But I still share similar tendancies with Regiane with other foods, including SOY MILK!!! yay! (note to BsAs amigas: remember "Ades," that awesome soy/fruit juice? they have it in Brazil! the fridge is stocked). Regiane is so cute and fun, she has an awesome sense of humor. She also gets along really well with everyone (trainees + Brazilian AIESECers) so we go out a lot together. May I also add that this weekend she was the first to order shots for the table: a fellow hard-core drinker.

Apparently on the weekends, either hosting or attending a Churrasco is right up there with breathing. Churrascos combine the following activities: BBQing savory meat, drinking beer/caiparinhas & hanging out with family and friends.
The flow of my weekend:
Out on Fri night --> Churrasco all day Sat --> Out on Sat night --> Churrasco all day Sun
Last night a group of us went to "Nud," the better of the two night clubs in São José. I am actually quite impressed, it's just kind of depressing to know that it only goes down-hill from here. The club had two huge spaces... inside is a two-story building with balcony over looking a stage with a live band. Outside is an open area where you can dance under the stars w/crazy lights, smoke, etc and a DJ. The night was long and fun... we didn't arrive 'til 1 in the morning (late even by Brazilian standards)... by 4 I had talked my way into VIP... by 6 we were home. Lots of fun.

I finally start work tomorrow, I had a good week off, it's time to get the ball rolling.

A small disclaimer: I'm having an awesome time here. But before you get too envious, just remember that this blog is filtered a bit: it's not so fun to write/read about my 45-min commute on the bus, frusturations of the language barrier, the lack cool places to hang out in SJC, problems with my cell phone chip, etc.

First week

It´s Monday and I just returned from a weekend trip to São Sebastião and Ilha Bela... São Sebastião is city on the coast of São Paulo state (1 1/2 hours away, 2 1/2 hours by bus + traffic)... from the port of São Sebastião one can take a ferry over to Ilha Bela to visit beautiful beaches and pousadas. The trip was awesome... a little crazy... but awesome. We couldn't find anywhere to stay on Friday night because it was high tourist season (tourists from São Paulo city mainly) and so we spent most of the night out in clubs and then slept on the beach. On Satruday night six AIESECERs drove up to visit and eight of us slept in a house we rented for $R20/person. The amazing thing is that I ended up spending so much more money than expected, even with spending only $R10/loding for the night (yeah, it's free to sleep on the beach from 5:00-6:30 am, lol). I got home last night at about 10 PM completly exhausted and looking forward to nothing more than food, shower and sleep... little did I know that the entire family would be waiting for me, as well as the neighborhood Priest, to have a formal dinner. The end result of that experience is that I´m going to mass tonight for the first time in my life.... Should be interesting... at least it counts as community involvement.
Here's some commentary about the prevous week:

Brazilian Portuguese is extremly fun to learn... they're pretty big into abbreviations, especially with "estar." So instead of saying "está," it's "tá." They rarely use the word "yes." If someone asks you a question, to respond in the affirmative they use the verb right back. Example:
English: Q: Is she thirsty? A: Yeah
Portuguese: Q: Ela tá com sede? A: Tá
I'm still extremly far away to pull off these kinds of sounds: "pão," "ção" in every day conversation. Portuguse has a certain rythm to it, while English is just super flat in comparrison.

I'm also taking Capoeira* classes from a Carioca (Rio-born) instructor. He's around 40 but has been playing Capoeira for 25 years, so it's not surprising that he looks about a decade younger than he really is. The first class was quite interesting... he went into a bit about how in many locations Capoeira is romanticized and few people give the art credit actually being quite dangerous (example: he warned to be careful whom you play with, as someone really end up hurting you if you). To demonstrate the "darker" side of Capoeira he called forth a man (who we speculate is his apprentice), and without warning, jump-kicked him square in the chest. In a further demonstartion, as the two were playing, from the ground he kicked the man in the back of his legs, causing him to fall on his back. It was a little intense, I'm sure the look on our faces was priceless.
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capoeira

My visit to São Paulo was hassel-free... it took them about 5 min to fix my passport and correct the visa information. I went with a Brazilian friend from ITA who had three different stops to make around the city, so most of the day was spent walking around, getting on and off the metro. I really like São Paulo, I'm sure I'll be back soon for more.

Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil) headquarters.

Japanese newspapers in Libertade, São Paulo's Japanese neighborhood.

Cheguei

Finally a chance to write. I'm here! I arrived safely... both of my flights were delayed for technical problems while everyone was seated on the plane, so the trip ended up being about 20 hours. But Davi and Julia were waiting for me at the airport which made everything better. And all 1,000 pounds of my luggage arrived safe and sound as well.
Ah, so much to explain! I'll start with...
Sao Paulo: I'll be there tomorrow to work out some problems with my visa. From the plane it's the biggest thing I've ever seen. A complete monstrosity. Can't wait.
Sao Jose dos Campos: Is pretty big and spread out. It's an interesting fusion of industry mixed with sub-tropical Southern Brazil-- picture lots of buildings with bright green grass in the background. I've only been downtown a little bit. It's not exactly a party city (BsAs, Sao Paulo, Madison) but I still like it. I have quite a while to get to know it.
ITA: A Brazilian public engineering school... I stayed in the dorms for my first couple nights. It's in the middle of a military base so one needs a special ID to enter/exit. It's nice because it's located in the center of the city-- their dorms are pretty cool too and there's also a pool and a place to BBQ (of course, we are in Brazil!)
AIESEC @ ITA: So far my Brazilian AIESEC hosts have been amazing. So far most of them are guys in their early 20s who attend ITA (except for Julia!)... Davi, Julia and Marcelo are spending their summer break in the dorms to take care of us trainees, so you can imagine that they're pretty awesome/sweet. So far I've met other trainees from: Nigeria, Spain, Venezuela and Peru, hopefully going out with them later tonight.
My Brazilian family: On my third day here Marcelo and I drove over to Vista Verhde, a neighborhood about 10 min/car outside of downtown to meet my Brazilian host family. They kick serious ass, Davi totally hooked me up. I have a Brazilian Dad, Mom, brother (Ricardo- 25) and sister (Regiane- 20). The parents speak a tiny bit of English-- Ricardo speaks Spanish and a little English and Regiane speaks English. I think Regiane is the only person I've ever met that actually adores the English language (so cute). So I'm practicing English with her quite a bit but otherwise conversing in Portuguese with everyone else... it's nice to have Regiane around if I ever get really stuck trying to explain something.
This family is so nice. They keep repeating that the house is now "my home" ("e sua casa")and that I'm completely welcome to everything ("fica a vondade"). We also have a live-in maid, Marta, who is also part of the family. She's been living with them for 25 years and is now Regiane's Godmother. Marta is now taking night school and eventually will enroll in nursing classes.
The day after I met my family and saw the house they invited everyone to their country house for a churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) (everyone= 10+ friends from AIESEC). The house is about 15 min outside of the Sao Jose, overlooking rolling hills and complete with a pool, futebol area, open space for eating. Everyone seems to enjoy drinking a lot-- both my host dad and sister got thrown in the pool, clothes and all. Imagine me on my fourth day in Brazil, attending my first churrasco with Brazilian friends, swimming and drinking caiparinha. Yeah. I like it here.
My job: I've visited the site twice but haven't yet met my boss because she's still on vacation. The office is in an big, open part of an older government building (looks like a run-down mansion)... there's lots of light and windows. It looks like the work situation will be great. It's super interesting. They don't actually perform the surgery at the site but in a hospital about 5 hrs away, so where I'll be working is for administration and rehabilitation. It consists of some work areas and then examination rooms and also play rooms for the kids. Everything is really well thought-out-- example: when a baby is born with a cleft-lip, the President of AAFLAP (my boss) visits the mother in the hospital to begin counseling/talking about rehab. A lot of babies with cleft lips/palates have trouble breathing, swallowing, speaking, etc. I start work this Monday and have lots of literature about the org to read in the mean time.
Portuguese: it's everywhere. I'm in heaven.
I am having some minor complications: visa issues, cell phone. For the most part everything is going absolutely great. It's so awesome here. So far, Manfred was right ;)

No joke: I live on Elvis Presley Street.


Entrance to the house.

Maria (Venezuela), Ines (Spain), Marcelo (AIESEC @ ITA). More to come. Promise.

The night before my entire life changes

It's finally happening... I leave for the airport in about six hours. I will go SF--> Washington D.C. --> Sao Paulo, Brazil. It will amount to about 15 hours on a plane... not too bad.
In other news I have a packing-related injury, I was on the phone saying goodbye to someone, not paying very much attention and thought it would be a good idea to try and lift my heaviest bag and I hella hurt my back. Shit! The pain will make for an interesting plane ride, that's what I get for over-packing.
As of now LB, JP, DP, CL, RB, EM, HN, HF, ME, FT, JF, CH are all planning on visiting. I better see all of you in Brazil and I mean it!
Ciao for now, next entry from Brazil!

New Years weekend whirlwind

Tory and John visit from Boston, wind and rain, vino like old times, work on the 31st, arrive at Jessie's to find she's managed to gather the cutest and nicest guys to celebrate with, flip cup with Bombay sapphire, defending Madison as #1 party school against LSU guys, crowded bar with crazy bouncers, Chris, candles (lol), Munich, Berkeley, forgetting Court's birthday for the first time in the decade I've known her (once again I'm *so* sorry!) dinner on the Pier, free food and music at Bisap Baobab to compete the ultimate Mission experience, bye Tory and John!

I'm now down to focusing on getting ready for one thing and one thing only.

Tory: I need pictures to make this entry complete!