1/11/13

Oi! Never got the chance to write yesterday, but I assure that these past few days have been some of the best of my life.

Where to start?

I'm beginning to get a hold of this. The language barrier is tough, but portuguese is a surprisingly fun language to speak. Greeting people with a smile and a "tudo bem!" (meaning "all is well") seems to work the trick, even though I only understand about 20% of what they say next. Yeah, the conversations can get a little awkward, but all you have to do is swallow your pride and accept the fact that you suck at the language. Keep a smile, be friendly, and even though you may not understand exactly what is being said, the people here will still go out of their way to offer you help, assistance, and the opportunity to make basic conversation.

That being said, I am quickly falling in love with the culture here. These people get it. Really though, they get it. People here live for the moment, appreciate the finer things, and carry with them an air of satisfaction with life. You can see it everywhere... in the park people will be hanging out enjoying each other's company, with absolutely no other care in the world rather than how to enjoy the company they surround themselves with and the moment they are living in. On the streets, people will smile and start conversation with you. In the check out line in the grocery store, a random middle aged dude who was behind me started a conversation, quickly realized I suck at portuguese, then switched to the basic english that he knew and started talking about his cats. I really wish people here in America could see the way people live here, it would open their eyes. Brazilians are welcoming, don't carry their status on their shoulders, and go out of their way to enjoy the company of a stranger. Simply put, they're lovers of life, friendships, and their home.

The past couple days, we have been going to school at this gorgeous university whose initials are PUCRS. Don't really remember what it stands for, but the C is for Catholic, and the RS is Rio Grande do Sul, the state of Brasil that I'm living in. We have been taking the most fun portuguese class... and we have such an amazingly hot teacher. Came up with a great hypothesis in class: if all the teachers at UW were amazingly hot Brazilian women, we would actually pay attention in class and get good grades. Just sayin.

Found some amazing clubs and bars around here. As a group, we went to this great place last night a few blocks away that had some awesome food and music. Maybe one of the most fun dinners I've ever had. By the end of the night, it was just four of us dudes (and our awesome profesores) left at the place, all greeks from different houses (DU, AEPi, Pike, TKE) drinking some dank caiparinhas. Then we bought some cigars, came back, and bro'd out tough. And in one of the funniest ways, shit got weird here, but I probably shouldn't talk about it. Nothing negative though, no need to worry.

This group of 17 students and 2 profesores are getting tight fast... we are all enjoying ourselves to the fullest, hanging out in the sun, going for runs in the park, swimming in our pool in the backyard, walking around the town... life is good.

I never wanna come back, even though I love you guys back in Washington. Considering marrying a smoking hot Brazilian so I don't have to leave. ~ 1/11/13