ok... so no blogging in over a month *slap wrists*
Some things that have happened in the last month:
We had a party at the school, I went with a friend to the supermarket (1.5 blocks down the road) and some guy grabbed my bag, along with my wallet, phone and camera, pulled me over and ran off.
The police are on strike (yep, the POLICE) so I can't report the theft and get my insurance.
Zara, Laura and me took a weekend away to Penedo, Foz de São Francisco and Pontal de Coruripe. Penedo is old and colonial but really really run down. Foz de São Francisco are these beautiful dunes where Rio São Francisco meets the sea, so we went and ran up and down the dunes and swam and sunbathed and ate some little coconut cakes. Pontal de Coruripe we stayed at a really nice hostel with cats and the most amazing breakfast, for 25 reais (abour 7 pounds). On the beach the next day some people came up to us and asked us if we were tourists... errm yes... "can we have outr picture taken with you?"
It's strange - the coast is beautiful and there are hotels, restaurants, tourists everywhere, but they're almost all Brazilian.
Another good weekend trip, this time with the school, was to Porto de Galinhas - another really beautiful beach town, and the kids there make these amazing things out of leaves like really intricate fishes and roses. We also went for a crêpe in the evening at this little stand, which had a CD player, and the woman selling grabbed all of the men she knew (aged about 15-70) and got them to dance with us to forró.
I have also started getting forró lessons, which is hilarious cos its all middle aged brazilian women, really really camp dance teachers, and me (before there were a few other students that went too but they have all now leaft!)
This month I've started doing volunteer work. Four days a week I go to an adoption home in the afternoon, and 2 mornings I go to a girls project - basically where girls from really poor families that have to work long hours can go during the day, be taken to school, fed, and then go home to their families at night.
But the adoption home is so upsetting - the kids are there from 0-7, apart from a few older ones with serious disabilities. The toddlers have nothing to do really apart from a few trikes scattered about for them to share. There are plug sockets on the walls at ground levels, and a few holes that used to be plug sockets and are now just wires. There is also a high set of metal shelves that they like to climb unsupervised. I'm probably gonna fall for one of them and come back with a lil Brazilian child.
So if anyone can think of cool cheep things to enterntain small children then let me know! I was teaching the girls from the girls project today to make friendship bracelets which was cool, and I have a few ideas... but any others craft ideas, or fun ways to teach a bit of english are welcome!!
Anyway, I have to get back home for my dinner of caldinho de feijão!
x x x
Friday, 9 November 2007
Monday, 1 October 2007
Ahh, so much has happened!
Had a slight difference in opinions with my host dad, (i.e. he thought that while his wife was in hospital alone in another city it was OK for him to take me out to dinner, tell me i was beautiful and he loves me etc. and i didn't) so i'm now living in a new home with a host mum, her lodger, and another student from the school which is great. And I get a double bed.
Last weekend we went to the Dunas de Marapé which was really beautiful. Amazing white sand beaches, with a river going down to the sea and little grey monkeys in the trees arund. We'd been out for a few drinks the night before to see off Karen and Peter so we ended up sleeping on the beach for most of the afternoon (amazingly i didnt get too burnt!)
One of the teachers at the school, Pedro, is also an artist and one of his designs was in an interior design show that opened thursday and he invited us all along. So we arrived in flipflops and normal clothes, to find that it was reallly posh, all of the women in heels and dresses, all of the men in suits, free champagne all night, free canopés circling all night. It was like the cast from a telenovela. It was interesting to see the other side of life in Maceió, especially after going to the favelas a couple of times. The contrast within one small city is unbelievable.
Friday was sad because a lot of the students who had been here since i arrived left. In the evening a few of us went to the beach to eat Tapioca, a local food which is a little bit like tortillas, where you can get lots of fillings but the classic is cheese and coconut. After that we went to a party in one of the host houses though for a farewell which was really fun. There were a lot of home made coctails and attempts to dance forro.
Saturday early morning we set off on a trip to Maragogi, a town in norhtern Alagoas near the border with Pernambuco. On the way we stopped at yet another beautiful beach. It was bizarre because the sea was shallow until really far from the shore. We swam for a while and had a doze on the beach then had an amazing lunch and went on to Maragogi. When we arrived we watched some amazing Brazilian TV in the bedroom, including a highly intellectual show in which a woman was confronted with 3 men and she had to guess which was married, which was gay and which was single. In the evening we went out for pizza and then a few of us went back to the hotel and played silly drinking games and other went to a bar. The plan was to meet up later to go on to a club, but when we got to the bar at about 10.30 all of the others had gone to bed, and in the end only 4 of us went to the club. Which was strange and noone would dance, so we went home early.
Sunday we went on a boat out to some amazing natural swimming pools, areas where the water is very shallow and there are lots of coral reefs and beautiful fishes swimming around everywhere. We got some awful pictures taken there too, some of which i may put up later.
Had a slight difference in opinions with my host dad, (i.e. he thought that while his wife was in hospital alone in another city it was OK for him to take me out to dinner, tell me i was beautiful and he loves me etc. and i didn't) so i'm now living in a new home with a host mum, her lodger, and another student from the school which is great. And I get a double bed.
Last weekend we went to the Dunas de Marapé which was really beautiful. Amazing white sand beaches, with a river going down to the sea and little grey monkeys in the trees arund. We'd been out for a few drinks the night before to see off Karen and Peter so we ended up sleeping on the beach for most of the afternoon (amazingly i didnt get too burnt!)
One of the teachers at the school, Pedro, is also an artist and one of his designs was in an interior design show that opened thursday and he invited us all along. So we arrived in flipflops and normal clothes, to find that it was reallly posh, all of the women in heels and dresses, all of the men in suits, free champagne all night, free canopés circling all night. It was like the cast from a telenovela. It was interesting to see the other side of life in Maceió, especially after going to the favelas a couple of times. The contrast within one small city is unbelievable.
Friday was sad because a lot of the students who had been here since i arrived left. In the evening a few of us went to the beach to eat Tapioca, a local food which is a little bit like tortillas, where you can get lots of fillings but the classic is cheese and coconut. After that we went to a party in one of the host houses though for a farewell which was really fun. There were a lot of home made coctails and attempts to dance forro.
Saturday early morning we set off on a trip to Maragogi, a town in norhtern Alagoas near the border with Pernambuco. On the way we stopped at yet another beautiful beach. It was bizarre because the sea was shallow until really far from the shore. We swam for a while and had a doze on the beach then had an amazing lunch and went on to Maragogi. When we arrived we watched some amazing Brazilian TV in the bedroom, including a highly intellectual show in which a woman was confronted with 3 men and she had to guess which was married, which was gay and which was single. In the evening we went out for pizza and then a few of us went back to the hotel and played silly drinking games and other went to a bar. The plan was to meet up later to go on to a club, but when we got to the bar at about 10.30 all of the others had gone to bed, and in the end only 4 of us went to the club. Which was strange and noone would dance, so we went home early.
Sunday we went on a boat out to some amazing natural swimming pools, areas where the water is very shallow and there are lots of coral reefs and beautiful fishes swimming around everywhere. We got some awful pictures taken there too, some of which i may put up later.
Monday, 24 September 2007
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
I'm OLD (er)
I am now 22.
Yep.
Nothing to look forward to til I hit 50 and I cheap car insurance and saga holidays
Thusday i had a capoeira lesson in the afternoon (if anyone doesnt know what it is then go to youtube and take a look). It was really fun but reallly embarassing and i'm reallllly bad at it.
Saturday we went on a school outing to Praia do Francês which was beautiful, white sand beach with rock pools and palm trees. It also has a natural wall of rock a little way out separating the beach from the ocean which means that the water was really calm. We went to a cafe on the beach too which had great seafood... but it took about 2 hours to be served. In the evening we met up with the capoeira teacher, some people from the school and some if his friends and played silly games on the beach, drank some beers and one of his friends tried (and failed) to teach me to dance forro (think thats what its called... its a local music style the lyrics to which are apparently all very dirty)
Sunday a few of us went out with the capoeira teacher in the afternoon to the favelas (slums) to see the project that he does out there. He doesn't charge for the capoeira lessons but takes donations to work with the kids in the favela teaching them capoeira, giving them some food and clean t-shirts, generally giving them something constructive and fun to do. It was pretty upsetting to see how they live. It's right next to the rubbish dump (where most of the people there work, including the children), all of the houses have makeshift roofs and open sewers and stray dogs. The lesson was in the building used by alcoholics anonymous and was about the only building that hasd glass in the windows.
Also on sunday my host mum left for Recife as she has to have an operation, so this week i'm living only with host dad, and mostly cooking my own meals.
Monday was my birthday, Stefani the host dad completely forgot, but at the school they gave me a massive chocolate cake and sang happy birthday to me in portuguese. In the afternoon we stayed at the beach and drank out of coconuts and then went for crepes at a cafe on the seafront. In the evening i spoke to mum and dad for the first time in about a month and then went out for a really nice meal of more amazing seafood and then on to a beachfront bar for some caiparinhas.
Yesterday i took it easy in the afternoon, did my homework and went for icecream, then went to watch what was supposed to be a teachers vs students football match. Unfortunately only one teacher appeared, and almost no students, and there was an odd number. So despite turning up in a skirt and flipflops i was made to be in goal. I was not good. After the game the token teacher spoke to the guy who ran the sports centre who offered us a free dance lesson next week which sounds fun.
Today was Laura's birthday and we went out in a jangada (traditional brazilian sailboat) to the natural pools created by the reef. The place is really beautiful and they caught and cooked us an octopus. Unfortunately it was disgusting.... but the thought was there.
Which about brings me up to date!
more soon x x
Yep.
Nothing to look forward to til I hit 50 and I cheap car insurance and saga holidays
Thusday i had a capoeira lesson in the afternoon (if anyone doesnt know what it is then go to youtube and take a look). It was really fun but reallly embarassing and i'm reallllly bad at it.
Saturday we went on a school outing to Praia do Francês which was beautiful, white sand beach with rock pools and palm trees. It also has a natural wall of rock a little way out separating the beach from the ocean which means that the water was really calm. We went to a cafe on the beach too which had great seafood... but it took about 2 hours to be served. In the evening we met up with the capoeira teacher, some people from the school and some if his friends and played silly games on the beach, drank some beers and one of his friends tried (and failed) to teach me to dance forro (think thats what its called... its a local music style the lyrics to which are apparently all very dirty)
Sunday a few of us went out with the capoeira teacher in the afternoon to the favelas (slums) to see the project that he does out there. He doesn't charge for the capoeira lessons but takes donations to work with the kids in the favela teaching them capoeira, giving them some food and clean t-shirts, generally giving them something constructive and fun to do. It was pretty upsetting to see how they live. It's right next to the rubbish dump (where most of the people there work, including the children), all of the houses have makeshift roofs and open sewers and stray dogs. The lesson was in the building used by alcoholics anonymous and was about the only building that hasd glass in the windows.
Also on sunday my host mum left for Recife as she has to have an operation, so this week i'm living only with host dad, and mostly cooking my own meals.
Monday was my birthday, Stefani the host dad completely forgot, but at the school they gave me a massive chocolate cake and sang happy birthday to me in portuguese. In the afternoon we stayed at the beach and drank out of coconuts and then went for crepes at a cafe on the seafront. In the evening i spoke to mum and dad for the first time in about a month and then went out for a really nice meal of more amazing seafood and then on to a beachfront bar for some caiparinhas.
Yesterday i took it easy in the afternoon, did my homework and went for icecream, then went to watch what was supposed to be a teachers vs students football match. Unfortunately only one teacher appeared, and almost no students, and there was an odd number. So despite turning up in a skirt and flipflops i was made to be in goal. I was not good. After the game the token teacher spoke to the guy who ran the sports centre who offered us a free dance lesson next week which sounds fun.
Today was Laura's birthday and we went out in a jangada (traditional brazilian sailboat) to the natural pools created by the reef. The place is really beautiful and they caught and cooked us an octopus. Unfortunately it was disgusting.... but the thought was there.
Which about brings me up to date!
more soon x x
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Maceió so far
ahhh
seems like so long since i actually said what i´ve been doing!
My family are all lovely, including my surrogate little brother. They were not told, however, that i was veggie so the first meal they cooked was beef. I told them i didnt eat meat, and the response was 'ok, tomorrow i'll cook something you eat.... like chicken'. Hmmmm. They seems to understand now though :)
The school is lovely and has about 15 students at the mo which is nice as everyone knows eachother and there are lots of sociable things to do. Monday we went out for a coctail, tuesday there was a free capoiera class... which i missed... but i might go tomorrow. Tonight we're going for a drink, tomorrow is pizza night, saturday there's a trip to a beach outside maceio.... I think I'll manage to keep myself busy!!
The lessons are relatively easy, it's mostly going over things that i should already know, but i still seem to struggle enough to keep it interesting.
I am having issues with buses and paperwork though... I open a bank account i have to get a card of some sort. I was told to go to the receita federal (i don't know what this is). So i went there, and they told me to go to the bank. So i went there and they told me to go to the post office. So i went there and they gave me a number and told me to go back to the receita federal in 2 days. Sigh.
Also highly confusing are the buses... Today as it was cloudy i decided to go to the shopping center. We got on a bus to the shopping center, but it didnt stop there. So we got off, got on a bus in the other direction, got to the shopping centre, had a look around at the amazingly garish brazilian fashion then decided to go back. Got on a bus that said via ponta verde and after a while saw the place MILES from ponta verde that we´d had to get off first time. so we asked the driver, and the bus had already gone via ponta verde and was now going somewhere else. so yet again we had to get off, cross the road, go back miles the way we'd come.
I have been being introduced to lots of random brazilian food like a pudding with pumpkin and coconut, and acai which is some kinda fruit, and a root the name of which i've forgotten which tastes like potatoe... but more dry and not as nice, and cachaço a lethal spirit, and feijão which is a kinda bean stew type stuff, and these little mussles in coconut sauce. All very exciting.
anyhoo i'm gonna go home to my brazilian mummy and little brother before going out tonight :)
seems like so long since i actually said what i´ve been doing!
My family are all lovely, including my surrogate little brother. They were not told, however, that i was veggie so the first meal they cooked was beef. I told them i didnt eat meat, and the response was 'ok, tomorrow i'll cook something you eat.... like chicken'. Hmmmm. They seems to understand now though :)
The school is lovely and has about 15 students at the mo which is nice as everyone knows eachother and there are lots of sociable things to do. Monday we went out for a coctail, tuesday there was a free capoiera class... which i missed... but i might go tomorrow. Tonight we're going for a drink, tomorrow is pizza night, saturday there's a trip to a beach outside maceio.... I think I'll manage to keep myself busy!!
The lessons are relatively easy, it's mostly going over things that i should already know, but i still seem to struggle enough to keep it interesting.
I am having issues with buses and paperwork though... I open a bank account i have to get a card of some sort. I was told to go to the receita federal (i don't know what this is). So i went there, and they told me to go to the bank. So i went there and they told me to go to the post office. So i went there and they gave me a number and told me to go back to the receita federal in 2 days. Sigh.
Also highly confusing are the buses... Today as it was cloudy i decided to go to the shopping center. We got on a bus to the shopping center, but it didnt stop there. So we got off, got on a bus in the other direction, got to the shopping centre, had a look around at the amazingly garish brazilian fashion then decided to go back. Got on a bus that said via ponta verde and after a while saw the place MILES from ponta verde that we´d had to get off first time. so we asked the driver, and the bus had already gone via ponta verde and was now going somewhere else. so yet again we had to get off, cross the road, go back miles the way we'd come.
I have been being introduced to lots of random brazilian food like a pudding with pumpkin and coconut, and acai which is some kinda fruit, and a root the name of which i've forgotten which tastes like potatoe... but more dry and not as nice, and cachaço a lethal spirit, and feijão which is a kinda bean stew type stuff, and these little mussles in coconut sauce. All very exciting.
anyhoo i'm gonna go home to my brazilian mummy and little brother before going out tonight :)
Monday, 10 September 2007
photos of mexico
geco!
rowan looking pretty with the palm tree reflected in her sunnies.
Palenque in the forest... so so pretty!
a croc at the cañon del sumidero
piñatas!
cañon del sumidero again.... chronology went a bit wrong there!
the indigenous church (and market) at san juan chamula
amazing poster in a barbers shop... anyone fancy one of these beautiful hairstyles??
lagos de montebello... in the rain...
the camp on the first night of the tour
our accommodation for night one of the tour.
night 3 of the tour we found this monster in our bed (i was to much of a wuss to put my hand there for scale.... but it was big. Honest). I scared him out with the stench of my shoe :)
amazing murals in bonampak.... this is one of the less gory ones
chichen itza in all its glory
super flattering picture of me from below at chichen itza
Saturday, 8 September 2007
Brazil
So after a tearful farewell at 4am in Cancun on tuesday morning with Ro, I got my flights as far as São Paulo without many problems or delays. On arriving i realised that the hostel i´d booked was the other end of the city, so i could in fact probably have stayed in a nice hotel near the airport for the price of the taxi alone that took me down to my HI hostel. But i decided to go where i knew i had a bed rather than turn up somewhere closer and hope for the best. Speaking to the taxi driver, i realised that i was totally lost with brazilian accents! But i could at least make myself inderstood which i guess is better than nothing...
When I arrived it was really nice, the people were really friendly and spoke english. Most of the people at the hostel were Brazilian but i met one american guy and chatted to him for a bit then headed to bed.
Next morning met the girl in my dorm who´s brazilian but spoke really good english and a few of her friends over breakfast... where they all spoke really fast in portuguese... but they were sweet and made an effort to translate for me (even though most of their stories seemed to be about misinforming foreigners about what various things meant to hilarious consequences... eep)
Later as i had a whole day there (my flight was supposed to be meeting all the rest of the flights from Cancun, so it didnt leave until 22.40) I went with a few people from the hostel to a park in the city where there were various different things like a planetarium, museum and modern art gallery. We just went to the art gallery which was great and had a couple of photography exhibitions and then headed on to get lunch. After lunch we went back to the hostel and chilled out there for a bit then i headed off to the metro... then the other metro... then the bus to get to the airport with my monster bag. Something i´m relieved that i don´t have to do again for a while!!
Had a while to wait at the airport so i got some food, called ben, then checked in. Then waited and waited and waited.... finally an hour after we were supposed to leave we were called to our gate, then we got on the plane and waited another half an hour. We finally got to maceio at about 3am. When i arrived at the hostel although i'd booked tey didn't seem to be expecting me and drudgingly put me into a room that had a like of massive ants crossing the floor and smelled like pee. I was too tired to care and slept until my alarm went off in time for breakfast.
At breakfast it was clear that there was almost noone at the hostel, just me and a Brazilian family. I went to change travellers cheques, had a nap, went for a wonder about town and found a nice cafe on the seafront. The city is pretty big and full of tower blocks and there are no tourists! But Brazilians are much more of a racial mix than Mexicans so i don't feel like i stand out as a tourist quite so much as i did there. The beach is fun for people watching but i haven't ventured to swim yet...
In the evening i made dinner for myself at the hostel and tried to call the family i'd be staying with but had no joy. Next morning i called again but again there was no answer. I went to the language school to ask there but it was a public holiday so it was closed. Eventually i got through on the mobile number and was told (after a few attempts at me understanding her) that her sister would be there in an hour. On my way there i was greated by her nephew who seems nice. Edelina, the one i should be staying with, is away until sunday, but her sister would get me breakfast until then. Didnt do much else yesterday apart from another little wander along the beach and went to the supermarket.
Today the nephew, wilson, came to make me breakfast then i went down to an artesania market which is a bit of a trek down to beach towards town. Unfortunately it wasn't very exciting... mostly they sold carving of large breasted brazilian women, mugs with breasts that said Maceió on the side and jewellary made from coconut. Ah well.
Anyway that about brings me up to date, Tomorrow i meet my new family (oh, and the son who it says is a student on the info i got about the family looks to be about 10 by the family pictures in the flat!). Monday i start at the language school. Hopefully there will be someone else who i can talk to there!! I miss other tourists... or just other humans that i'm capable of communicating with...
x x x x x x
When I arrived it was really nice, the people were really friendly and spoke english. Most of the people at the hostel were Brazilian but i met one american guy and chatted to him for a bit then headed to bed.
Next morning met the girl in my dorm who´s brazilian but spoke really good english and a few of her friends over breakfast... where they all spoke really fast in portuguese... but they were sweet and made an effort to translate for me (even though most of their stories seemed to be about misinforming foreigners about what various things meant to hilarious consequences... eep)
Later as i had a whole day there (my flight was supposed to be meeting all the rest of the flights from Cancun, so it didnt leave until 22.40) I went with a few people from the hostel to a park in the city where there were various different things like a planetarium, museum and modern art gallery. We just went to the art gallery which was great and had a couple of photography exhibitions and then headed on to get lunch. After lunch we went back to the hostel and chilled out there for a bit then i headed off to the metro... then the other metro... then the bus to get to the airport with my monster bag. Something i´m relieved that i don´t have to do again for a while!!
Had a while to wait at the airport so i got some food, called ben, then checked in. Then waited and waited and waited.... finally an hour after we were supposed to leave we were called to our gate, then we got on the plane and waited another half an hour. We finally got to maceio at about 3am. When i arrived at the hostel although i'd booked tey didn't seem to be expecting me and drudgingly put me into a room that had a like of massive ants crossing the floor and smelled like pee. I was too tired to care and slept until my alarm went off in time for breakfast.
At breakfast it was clear that there was almost noone at the hostel, just me and a Brazilian family. I went to change travellers cheques, had a nap, went for a wonder about town and found a nice cafe on the seafront. The city is pretty big and full of tower blocks and there are no tourists! But Brazilians are much more of a racial mix than Mexicans so i don't feel like i stand out as a tourist quite so much as i did there. The beach is fun for people watching but i haven't ventured to swim yet...
In the evening i made dinner for myself at the hostel and tried to call the family i'd be staying with but had no joy. Next morning i called again but again there was no answer. I went to the language school to ask there but it was a public holiday so it was closed. Eventually i got through on the mobile number and was told (after a few attempts at me understanding her) that her sister would be there in an hour. On my way there i was greated by her nephew who seems nice. Edelina, the one i should be staying with, is away until sunday, but her sister would get me breakfast until then. Didnt do much else yesterday apart from another little wander along the beach and went to the supermarket.
Today the nephew, wilson, came to make me breakfast then i went down to an artesania market which is a bit of a trek down to beach towards town. Unfortunately it wasn't very exciting... mostly they sold carving of large breasted brazilian women, mugs with breasts that said Maceió on the side and jewellary made from coconut. Ah well.
Anyway that about brings me up to date, Tomorrow i meet my new family (oh, and the son who it says is a student on the info i got about the family looks to be about 10 by the family pictures in the flat!). Monday i start at the language school. Hopefully there will be someone else who i can talk to there!! I miss other tourists... or just other humans that i'm capable of communicating with...
x x x x x x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
