Back To Iturama

Today was the last day of my northeast trip. I´m now in Sao Paulo at an internet cafe, waiting for my bus to Iturama. The month spent with 52 other exchange has been incredible. Sorry about not updating the blog since the first week, didn´t really keep my promises there. Excuses; money, free time and good internet has been scarce. I´ve had my highs and lows on the trip. At times, experiencing both simultaneously. For instance, when I was body surfing in the ocean for the first time in Fortaleza while in the process losing my debit and credit cards. I have started a few posts throughout the trip and when I get back to Iturama, I´ll try finishing them up and posting them.

Northeast Trip

I am one week into likely the best month of my exchange. There were 16 exchange students who met in Belo Horizante last Tuesday. I was first there by a long shot. I arrived at 5:30am, and the next at 3:00pm. I spent the day wondering around the city, looking to buy an official Brazilian soccer jersey with either one of a few numbers I had in mind, using the much-appreciated Christmas money sent to me last week. After looking in about a dozen stores, I was empty-handed. Apparently, since the World Cup there’s been a drought in numbered jerseys. When everyone else was finally arriving at the hotel, a Brazil v Argentina game that I’d been looking forward to for over month was happening. Unfortunately, we got to watch them lose 1-0.  That night we went out for dinner then chilled with people in our room until curfew. The next morning, the 16 of us left the hotel at 6:00am and met 30 more exchange students on our tour bus. We then drove all day to Brasilia, had an orientation meeting then went to a bar for a forro dance lesson. Never did much dancing before coming to Brazil, I probably looked like rain man. The next day, we drove around Brasilia with a tour guide, visiting several churches and government buildings. The trip coordinators said this would be the most boring of the trip. It wasn’t too bad though, and it was good to hear the trip would only get better. The next day, we began driving to Chapada Diamentina, a massive natural park. The drive was about 16 hours long and we split it up into two days on the bus. Our first day in the park was a banger. We went ziplining, snorkeling and descended 800m into a cave. We will now drive further into Chapada Diamentina to climb a mountain, see some waterfalls and go down a natural waterslide while staying in the one five-star hotel of the trip. The internet's super slow for uploading photos right now, so here's my facebook album with pictures of the trip so far: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=259365&id=533624758&l=ac2fd31eeb

Not My Typical Saturday

I am sitting on a coach bus heading to Belo Horizante as I'm writing this. It’s around 8:00pm and we are scheduled to arrive at 5:30am tomorrow.  Today's the beginning of a month of touring around the northeast and down the coast of Brazil with aboot 60 other exchange students. Life is getting extra good here.

After I get back from this trip, I will change host families since I’ve been with my current one for three and a half months now. My family decided for last weekend to invite all of their relatives who I’ve met out to their cottage for the weekend. We planned on barbequing all weekend so Edmilson, my host dad, invited me to go with him to his farms and slaughter a few animals. I figured if I can cook a lobster, I could kill a cow.

We left for the farm at about 5:30am and I slept the entire way there.  In fact, he didn’t wake me up when we got to the farm and I woke up to see an axe come down on the back of the cow’s neck. I quickly got out of our truck and ran over to watch what was happening. They then stabbed the cow in the heart and blood gushed out onto the field where it laid. We then used a pulley system to hang the cow up in a tree by its back legs. Edmilson and a pro butcher he hired began skinning the cow, degutting it (this turned nasty as, unknown to them, the cow was about two months pregnant and had a fetus chilling inside of it), and fully butchering it. All this happening in the middle of a field while it hung from a tree, quite different from how I would have imagined the process in Canada. After this we moved on to slaughtering lamb. This is where it got a bit gnarly. They started off by going into a pen and tackling the chosen lamb. They then carried it by its legs over to a tree and hung it upside down by its back legs. I had the role here of keeping it still while the pro butcher, in one motion, broke its neck and slit its throat. Then, he decapitated the lamb. As its nerves were shutting down, the lamb started jerking around, spewing blood everywhere. For the male we killed, we also had to castrate it. I have a video of all of this for anyone sick enough to be interested. We killed two other female sheep, one of which was pregnant. Two fetuses in one day, a record for me. After the day at the farm we headed up to the cottage and had a great weekend. We had some great food and some very fresh beef and lamb. In two days, we finished off a full lamb.

local PETA meeting

Since I’ll be doing so much on this trip, I’ll make an effort to blog regularly. This is going to be the trip of a lifetime so I imagine I’ll have some good things to say.

Sou Corinthiano

Before I came to Brazil, I looked into what clubs were best in the country's Liga do Brasil. Vitor (the Brazilian on exchange currently in Collingwood) told me without a doubt, Corinthians. I looked into the team and I was impressed. They have several Brazilian internationals, including Ronaldo. What I didn't know in Canada however, was that there are two other teams in Sao Paulo alone, and support is split fairly evenly for all three. When I got to school here, everyone asked if I supported a club here. I stuck to Corinthians and whenever I answered with them, there would always be people be saying "e corinthiano!" (a Corinthian!) or "corinthians e fouder" (literally, "Corinthians are fucked"). But at the same time, people always give me shit, trying to switch my support to one of the other two, Palmeiras or Sao Paulo. This is especially true when I mention this to a Palmeiras fan since there's some fierce rivalry between them and the Corinthians. The Clube do Corinthians was founded in 1910 and this year marks their "centanrio", or hundred-year anniversary. In celebration of this, my friends and I had a party at school. They built a cake, popped some corn and I bought a bottle of Coke. During our lunch break, we brought a few tables together, sang some Corinthians chants and ate until we had to go back to class. Some Palmeiras fans were part of it, poaching our food and staying silent during the chanting. I feel like the Yank from Greenstreet Hooligans, being taken in the community this clubs' supporters. If I could, I would consider getting a tattoo as well. I have also had some close calls with fights, not related to soccer though. If you ever come to Brazil, always practice "cuidado com as mulheres" (caution with the women). Supporters are passionate about their clubs here, and Corinthian fans say their blood runs black and white. This is now true for me in two ways.

My school stopping to watch a Corinthians match at a during a field trip.

Here's an English webpage about the Corinthians' fans: http://www.corinthians.com.br/internacional/_en/index.htm

Beatle Pictures

I've had a few requests for pictures of the beatles I was talking about. These were on the floor of a restaurant I went to. (for reference, they're bigger than a loonie)

First Quarterly Report

I know most of my family and friends back in Canada have already seen this but here's my first quarterly report for my exchange. This sums up a lot of what I've been up to here. I know it's long, but I've been told it has quantity and quality.

Today marks my third month on Exchange in Iturama, Brazil- and what a time it has been. It has been an amazing experience so far and although I have had my difficulties, I have loved being immersed in a new culture again. At the young age of 12, I went on exchange to Paris, France and have hungered for the same feeling of immersion I felt there. Brazil has more than satisfied that appetite.

In only three months, I have learned a new language and can confidently say that with Portuguese, I am now trilingual. When I came here, I could hardly understand anything that people were saying and made my best efforts to speak with people, though often resulting in gibberish. I’ll admit that I did rely on my English-speaking friends for a while. But in the past month, I have started telling them to stop speaking English with me, and my language skills have greatly improved. At all the orientation meetings in Canada before I left, I was told that at around three months into the exchange, I would start to feel confident with my language skills. I’m definitely following this trend. I no longer have to translate in my head from English to Portuguese and I’m even dreaming in Portuguese now. I have been going to Portuguese classes since my third week here and the classes are becoming increasingly easy for me. It amazes me how much easier everything in the exchange has gotten as I improve my language skills.

I was very lucky to get the family I have. They are simply great. I have a host brother named Luiz Otavio who’s nine years old. I usually spend time with him showing him how to play rugby (he really likes the sport now and bought his own ball last week) or working on the house we made in his computer game Sims. I have a host sister named Anna Laura who’s 16 and left shortly after I got here for her exchange in Oregon, USA. I have a dad who works as a doctor at both the private practice he runs and a public hospital. We have had some great conversations, mostly comparing Brazil and Canada. Finally, there’s my mom who, incredibly, runs her own clothing store, runs a shelter for abandoned, mostly disabled seniors, attends law school and does artwork. I don’t know how she does it. Although she’s always on the run, she always has a smile on her face and goes out of her way to help me out with Portuguese or any problems that arise. It’s amazing how many people my parents employ around the town through the businesses they run, groundskeepers at their cottage and three farms, and housekeeper in their home. They have two housekeepers here at the house, Marcy and Simone. When I got here, I thought that I would really make an effort to help out with any chores around the house. But they take care of most of them. I still make my bed everyday here, even though I know Marcy remakes it. If I leave the pillow on top, she puts it underneath the covers and vice-versa. I have already met my next two host families and my potential third. They are all super nice and friendly people who I look forward to seeing more of.

I have tried to keep myself busy here so I don’t let my exchange go to waste. I have accomplished this for sure. I joined a gym in my second week here and shortly after, my mom bought me a present of 66 sessions with a personal trainer. I’ve been taking advantage of this. For the first two months I went with him three days per week and now we’re doing five sessions per week. I also go by myself one to two nights during the week and the occasional Saturday. I also started playing volleyball with my school team with one or two practices during the week. Then, there’s the sport Brazil is known for- soccer. I have really grown to love playing this sport here as it is great for making friends, keeping fit and is a staple of Brazilian culture. I began playing with my school futsol team during the first week of school. This is basically indoor soccer with 5 players a side. I went with my school two weekends ago to Jales in the state of Sao Paulo for a three-day long, sudden-death sports tournament. The school I’m attending is called Collegio Objetivo and is a private, franchised school. The ten other Objetivos in our area gathered for this tournament. Volleyball went well, easily winning our first game and losing a drawn-out, three set battle in our second. For futsol, I was shocked to find that for some reason, I was chosen for our starting line-up. Being a Canadian in Brazil, this didn’t make much sense to me. We lost our first game 10-1 and it was (unbelievably) me who scored our lonely goal. The team we lost to went on to win the championship so that offered some consolation. After this tournament, it seems that sports at my school have stopped for the meantime. I have wanted to find a soccer club to play with since I got here. Last night I began playing with IEC (Iturama Esportes Club). They practice four times a week and the players are unreal. I definitely have my work cut out for me to get to the level they play at. I believe sports have been great for me, as they have helped me make a lot of new friends and further immersed me into Brazilian culture.

I have also gone on a few trips throughout my state of Minas Gerais and a state to the south, Sao Paulo. With my school, I went on a one-day trip to Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo. This is the biggest city in Brazil and the seventh largest metropolitan area in the world. Brazilians consider it their New York. There, we started our day off at a book fair that seemed more like a trade show. Hundreds of stands were set up, selling a massive variety of books. Then, we went to the TV station Globo. This is the most popular TV station in Brazil. We stayed and watched a taping of a late-night talk show called Altos Horas.  The guests they had on that day were Middleweight UFC Champion Mauricio Shogun Rua, the director of the film City of God, a popular rock band called Capital Initial, a 14 year-old drum prodigy, and a really cool band from New Orleans called Trombone Shorty who played a mix of jazz, rock, funk and hip hop. It was a really cool experience to go to this city, be on such a popular Brazilian show and then watch myself on TV that weekend.

I landed in Brazil in Sao Paulo airport then flew to Uberlandia in Minas Gerais. I then stayed with my family at their apartment in this city. Since then, we’ve been to the apartment three times and it’s been really interesting staying in both a city like this and my town Iturama, where we have population equal to Collingwood’s with 36,000. It’s like seeing life in Collingwood and Toronto.

I also have an incredible trip to look forward to next month. On November 17^th, I will begin my 29-day trip to the northeast of Brazil. We will first visit the capital of my state Belo Horizante and then the national capital Brasilia. After this we will make our way up to the northeast and then drive down the coast ending in Rio de Janeiro. Where beaches are concerned, I will visit the top destinations in Brazil. This could very well be the highlight of my year.

I would really like to thank my sponsoring Rotary Club of Collingwood and my district 7010 for the life-defining opportunity you have given me. This year is doing more for me than I thought possible in Canada. I believe the life-experience I will gain here will drastically change me for the better with maturity, a third language and more worldly views than I could have formed in Collingwood. I am currently keeping a blog for my year here, so to stay updated with what I’m up to here you can go to jasonnashbrasil.blogspot.com. I would also love to talk to answer questions anyone has for me about my exchange and you can reach me at my e-mail below. I would like to give a massive thank you to everyone who has made my dream of an International Rotary Youth Exchange a reality; it is truly an invaluable experience.

Jason Nash

Exchange Student

Sponsored by The Rotary Club of Collingwood

jaynash_@hotmail.com

Rua Ituiutaba, 1038

Iturama, Minas Gerais

38280-000

Brasil

First Email

This is the email I sent out two days after I landed in Uberlandia:
Oi!!
It turns out the internet tonight is not wireless and they do not have skype, but this weekend I will have both and will be available to skype. My flights were great, although the layover in Sao Paulo was death. I went through security three hours early and it turned out there was nothing on the other side but a window overlooking the tarmac. No outlets to plug the Mac in so I read my three magazines cover to cover. I couldn't sleep on the Air Canada flight but it was good to be able to watch movies. I saw Up In The Air, Date Night and two hours of Bill Maher stand-up. The Uberlandia flight was interesting. We had to board a bus that took us to our plane and it looked like a private jet. Two seats per row on the left side and one seat per on the right. I got to sit by myself and the views from that flight were unreal. Today, we went to lunch at probably the craziest restaurants I´ve ever seen. Waiters are constantly running around with different types of food and asking if you want some of it. There was an offer in between every bite I took. The food I ate could last me two days. I tried some interesting foods such as fried cheese, fried bananas and chicken hearts. To my surprise, the last of those were amazing. We then went to a mall that was probably as big as the eaton center. We walked around for a while there and I looked at soccer cleats. They are cheap here and I probably will buy a pair. We then went back to their apartment, which is ridiculously nice, and basically just drank. They showed me a locally-made liquor (42.5% alc.) and I tried some portuguese port. I was able to buy some mini bottles of Peller Estates icewine at the airport (explained to the cashier that it was a gift and she helped convince someone in the store to help me buy it, very nice lady haha) and decided that it was the right time to give it to them. I gave them two bottles of white and one red. They loved it and really appreciated the gift. I haven`t been taking many pictures since I got here but I will start tomorrow. For tomorrow, I know that I will try some brazilian coffee and we might see Shrek 3 in 3D. I will skype you when I can and tell you all about it. It turns out I don't have our relatives´ emails on this account so could you please forward this to them and anyone you think would be interested. I am considering getting a blogging account but obviously can´t take care of that right now so i'll keep you posted.
Talk to you soon,
Jason

Beatles

I was walking to a Rotary meeting this week and I though I heard rain. I felt nothing but could hear it start to pick up. Then I realized it was not rain but massive beatles flying into the ground. The more I walked, the more of them there were. Crawling and flying around, it felt like a scene from Birds. I found out they're attracted to light when I finally got to Rotary and walked up to it's glass doors, which were letting it shine through. After getting through a field of them, I got inside, sat down, not knowing what the hell I just saw. I asked my English-speaking Portuguese teacher what was up with them. She said they were "like flying cockroaches that appear when it rains". My host dad has since told me they live underground and surface when it rains to have sex. Rain season has started so they'll be around for a while. People at the meeting didn´t mind them at all. They would either step on them (killing them with a crunch) or pick them up and throw them at eachother. I'm cool around them now but that night, I was slightly rattled. They're only harmless to an extent since my host dad (a doctor) had to answer four calls tonight about the ´flying cockroaches´ crawling into kids´ ears.

Engrish Movies

After my first week in Brazil, my family suggested I start watching movies in Portuguese to help learn the language quicker. I went with Marcy (one of my family's housekeepers) and Luiz Otavio (my host brother) to pick some up. The store had mostly American movies. Marcy suggested some Brazilian-made movies and I picked two out. Then I looked at the American ones thinking that since I would already know what was going on, it would be easier to pick up on the dialogue. The translations for their titles were hilarious. Here are some I've noticed:
Ocean's Eleven= Eleven Men and A Secret
Ocean's Twelve= Twelve Men and Another Secret
Ocean's Thirteen= Thirteen Men and A New Secret
The Goods= People Selling Cars
Funny People= Who Are You Laughing At?
Die Hard= Skyscraper Attack
Die Hard 2= Airport Attack
Jaws= Shark
The Dukes of Hazard= The Good Lookings: A New Ballad
The Hangover= If Drink, Don't Marriage
Shaun of The Dead= Everyone Almost Dead
Step Up= If She Dance, I Dance To
Like Mike= Little Superstars
Meet The Parents= Getting A Cold
Home Alone= Forgotten Me
Rat Race= Everyone Is Mad! Race For Million$
Airplane!= Tighten Your Seatbelts... The Pilot Has Gone!

Technical Difficulties

I woke up Saturday morning to a great surprise, my macbook wouldn't charge. It turns out the cable for my charger had a short. I'm generally a fan of Apple products, they work great until they don't. And unfortunately for me, they often don't. A phone call would fix everything, if my level of portuguese was higher than a Brazilian three year old's. Once I can get someone to translate and call in for me, it should be easy to have it replaced. Until then, I'm using my family's computer and can't drop any more photos. All I've got is words. At least when I'm typing, I can't mumble.

It's Gon' Rain

A 6-month drought ended last night. Looks like rain season has begun.

First Month

My time in Brazil has been great so far. I've been here almost two months now and the time has flown by. I started my year in the country, landing in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo. It's the biggest city in Brazil, people consider it their New York, and is the 7th largest metropolitan area in the world. After a 5-hour layover, I flew to Uberlandia, Minas Gerais. Meeting my host family was amazing. They were holding a massive welcome banner for me and said I was their new son. That weekend my mom, Thelma said she now had a coffee son (Luiz Otavio) and a milk son. We spent a few days at their apartment in Uberlandia then headed to my city, Iturama.
The first night here was crazy. I went with my host sister (who's now living near Portland, Oregon) to 'rodeo'. It was like a normal fair at first, a bit bigger than the GNE, then we went to a stadium where there was bull riding going on. The stadium was about half full then the bull riding stopped and a country (sertaneja) show started. Thousands of people piled into the stadium and we stayed there until around 12. Then, everyone migrated over to a club called Cabana.  It was unreal- we stayed until almost 8am.
I had two weeks before school started and spent that time playing soccer, basketball, swimming and hanging out with friends I met at the rodeo. Then school started, at 7:30 am. It was rough. First few weeks at school consisted mostly of sleep. I started bringing my ipod to school and that helped keep my head of the desk. For awhile I could hardly understand any portuguese and there were few people who spoke English. School was good though overall and I met a lot more people. On the weekends, my family has taken me to see their other properties. Along with their house in Iturama and their apartment in Uberlandia, they have a cottage and three farms. I could go on forever about my time here but instead here's a few photos.

An all-day restaurant we went to near Uberlandia

Taping of a show called Altos Horas in Sao Paulo

Some of us from Interact,  a Rotary group

Our plane getting jump started by a tractor

View of Iturama from a plane tour

From my bedroom at the apartment in Uberlandia

First Post!

I'm sorry it's taken me so long, but here is the first entry to the blog I'll be writing in throughout my year on exchange in Brazil. The first month here has been nothing short of unreal. I've had a lot of fun, made a lot of friends and surprisingly, improved my portuguese a great amount. I will write a full post about it, but I'm short on time right now and am going out to play soccer for the night in a few minutes.

Here is a picture from my first night in my city Iturama, at a club called Cabana. (taken around 5am)