churrasco

If there is one thing Brazilians know how to do and do well, it must be barbeque. So tasty!

one month!

chimarrão

Chimarrão is a symbol of friendship, hospitality, and the Gaucha culture. It is a bitter tea that is passed in a circle. The five necessary components for any good chimarrão are cuya – the cup, bomba – the metal straw used to drink the tea, erva – the tea leaves, water about 70° C, and friends! Those of you who have been to Argentina will recognize this as matte.



Here are some guidelines for partaking in the tradition:

1. The person who made the chimarrão drinks the first one. From then on it is passed in a circle.

2. For each person, the cuya is refilled with water either by the person who made the chimarrão or by the person who just had it. Drink the whole thing.

3. Accept the cuya with your right hand.

4. If you don’t want any more, say “thank you” when returning it.

5. NEVER move the bomba (the metal straw). That’s how it gets clogged.

6. Never wash the cuya or bomba with soap. Also, the thermos used for chimarrão water should never be used for anything besides water.

7. Sugar can be added to the erva when making it, but only for children or weaklings. :)

My first chimarrão!

"Inter, Champion of Everything"

International Sports Club, one of the two soccer teams here in Porto Alegre, won the Libertadores Championship--one of the most important soccer tournaments among South American teams! Needless to say, it was a pretty big deal.

Whenever something happens in a soccer game, you don't have to be watching the game to know. Cars in the street honk like crazy and you can hear people celebrating (or mourning). It's like being on campus for a Gator game, except throughout the whole city. You can only imagine how crazy it was after this game--fireworks, yelling, and honking for hours!

Congratulations, Inter--“Campeão de Tudo!”

the gewehrs

I am currently living with the Gewehrs, a family involved with Navigators here in Porto Alegre. The parents are Odilo and Denise. They have two kids about my age. Taise, the daughter just moved to São Paulo and Gustavo is studying architecture in the same university as me. Oh, and how could I forget the cat! The cat's name is Fofinha, literally "little fluffy."

Denise & Fofinha

my room

the “back yard”

zaffari

Supermarket! This is the Publix of Porto Alegre. Now, why the mascot is a squirrel, you ask? For some odd reason, Brazilians are obsessed with squirrels. I think it has something to do with the fact that they don’t have squirrels here, and therefore are unaware of their devious and oftentimes annoying nature. :)

2 Coríntios 5:17

Portanto, se alguém está em Cristo, é nova criação. As coisas antigas já passaram; eis que surgiram coisas novas!

the "senha"

I have been here three days and already done so many things! I have had many experiences with this thing called the "senha." A senha is the number that you get to hold your place in line. Normally I only encounter this only at Publix to buy lunchmeat, but here they use it for everything. It's quite nice--instead of standing in line you just pick up a number and sit until you're called.

One of the things I had to acquire was a CPF, which is the Brazilian version of a social security number. But now I am officially a person according to the Brazilian government! I exist!

Besides registering with the government, researching cell phone options, procuring all sorts of paperwork, catching the bus, and doing LOTS of walking, I have gotten to do many cool things. The other day Marta and I went to this neat little coffeeshop that sits across from a big park in the city. It's close to her house so we just took a stroll through the park to get home!

Today I went to my campus (in the "valley"), met my advisor, and chose my classes! My schedule is going to be great! I'm taking four classes (a normal class load here is eight or nine) and I won't have class on Mondays or Fridays! My classes are Syntax, Phonology, Psycolinguistics, and Pragmatics, which are all linguistics classes. I'm a little nervous about doing them all in Portuguese though.

Tonight is Bible study and will be my first one in Portuguese! Marta and I are going to make pão de queijo and I’m really excited to meet everyone!

donezo...

There was only one thing left to be done before my last day in the States was complete.

Chipotle.