Florianópolis

The street where my house is


Its actually quite steep...


Floripa


I've been in Floripa for over a week now. I'm pleased to say so far that I haven't come across any of the negative preconceptions about this place. On my second night here I went to a bus stop and asked the two guys waiting when the next bus was due. They soon worked out I was a foreigner and we struck up a good conversation.

I like this city, the buildings and streets have a bit more of a European feel to them. Its just a pity that it is rather cold at the moment. The house I'm staying at is quite big. Its good all the basic necessities: Running water, electricity and wireless Internet access. Even has hot water as a bonus! The house has one lady in her 50s by the name of Anna and her two adult children - a son and daughter, although her son is currently overseas and I haven't met him yet. The only negative about this house is I don't have much interaction with the people, they're often out and so that part of the homestay (getting to know other people and living with a "family") isn't as good as it could be, but overall things are going well.

I visited a church on Thursday night and met some people and to invited to a weekend getaway on the south of the island. So I went on that which proved to be a great opportunity to worship God, meet lots of new people, go to the beach (just for a look as its cold at the moment), play some soccer have a barbecue (Brazilian style) and just hang out with some new people.

I'm meant to be doing one one one Portuguese lessons here, but for the first week one of the teachers was sick and I ended up being in a small group. I ended up doing six hours a day. This week I'm doing one on one classes for three hours a day. I've also enquired into the possibility of doing some volunteer work - so I've arranged to go to an orphanage tomorrow and see if I can assist there.

Things are going well here so far!



BBQ at weekend away


Some of the guys I went away with on my first full weekend in Floripa

Goodbye to Palmas, on to Floripa, and the World Cup

Farewell dinner with friends I've made in Palmas


This may not look that speical - but its the very centre of Brazil.


Well I spent four and a half weeks in Palmas - two more than I initially planned.

As I write, I'm at Palmas airport about to travel to Florianópolis (Floripa). I'm flying via, Brasilia, then Sao Paulo so its going to take 7 or 8 hours. Floripa is an island (connected by a bridge to the mainland) to the south of Brazil. It's meant to be really good for surfing and similar water sports that I could have done in Sydney but never did. However, as I understand it the weather is also somewhat similar to that of Sydney - meaning its pretty cold right now...

A few things I've been told about the south of Brazil:

- There's a lot of people of Europeans decent - Portugual, Italy, German (apparently a few post WW2 nazis made there way these parts too)
- People look a lot fairer (blond hair, blue eyes)
- The women are particularly beautiful
- The people aren't as open and friendly as in the north of Brazil
- The people are richer
- Its mean to be a great spot visit

Anyway, I'll try and put aside all these preconceptions (good and bad) and make the most of my time.

I've enrolled in another portuguese school for three hours each morning for four weeks. I'm also hoping to do some volunteer work while in Floripa. This is something I'm hoping my Portuguese is now good enough for me to be able to add some value with. We will see.

I'm now going to go back a few days and talk about Brazil's match of the World Cup. It was on a Tuesday commencing at about 3:30. I was invited to a house where a barbecue was taking place to watch the game. Most of the people there had jobs, but everyone had left work early for the game. It seems like the whole country stopped for it. The fans were pretty intense!

It was Brazil against North Korea and I somehow managed to wear red. I thought I better take my shirt off for most of the game, which was just as well as everyone was covered in shaving cream on the two occasions that Brazil scored. After the game not everyone seemed to be happy with the 2-1 victory. If only Australia's soccer team had such disappointing victories…




As I was wearing red they decided I was on N. Korea's side. I believe the Spanish basketball team got in trouble for this sort of pic a couple of years back



After the Brazil N. Korea game

Pronounciation could do with some work

Lunch time






At the start of the day


I've made some new friends here in Palmas which has been really good. Been playing basketball about once a week too.

It was a holiday here recently, so I went on a trip about an hour out of town with a group of about 12 people - friends that I've made through my friend Angela and the church I've been going to here. We found a good spot to have a picnic (Brazillian barbecue) which was really good. There was some great views and a nice lake for to go for a swim.

On the way back in the car, I asked one of the girls if she had any brothers. She asked me if she told me would I remember. I thought this was a bit of a strange response and said that I would. Then before I knew what was happening she started rattling off her email address. The word for "siblings" in Portuguese "irmãos". Which (the way I said it) sounds like email. Oh well, I was planning on asking her for her email address anyway...

Anyway, its my last week here in Palmas. I'm off to Florianópolis (Floripa) - which is in the south of Brazil - this Saturday. I don't know anyone there yet, but I've enrolled in yet another Portuguese school there who have organised a homestay for me. I plan to be there for at least four weeks.

Palmas

My friend Angela (another Braziiian friend I met in Sydney) lives in Palmas - about a one hour flight from Brasilia. She invited me here, so I've been here for a couple of weeks. He brother Fred owns a language school with his wife Patricia so I've been getting Portuguese lessons at a good rate.

I'm staying with friends of there's. A young married couple my age (yes Ricky that does count as young here) Daniel and Aline. Daniel is a blackbelt in judo and Aline is a judge, so I figure I had better not get up to any mischief here! I wondered if it was unusual for a judge to be so young, but apparently not in this area. Palmas is only 21 years old as such there don't seem to be many old people here.

The people I'm with (Daniel and Aline as well as Fred, his wife Patricia and Angela) speak more English than most people I've been with in Brazil and seem to be quite well off. I think the two go hand in hand to some extent as the people I'm with are business owners and/or professionals.

Again everyone here has been very hospitable. My daily routine has been to get picked up for school in the morning, have class for about two hours. The methodology is somewhat different to when I was in Maceio. There's more translation then I'd like, but its all about talking not analyzing the language as much as in Maceio, so thats been good for me. Also, I'm the only Portuguese student here - the school has about 400 students but most of them are Brazilians studying English - as such I get lots of practise. I go to lunch with Angela to Fred and Patricia's place, then after lunch I get picked up by one of the guys who works here and ride on the back of his motorbike back to school where I hang around for a couple of hours. People here seem to like talking to me which is fun and I get to use the Internet to catch up on stuff. I then have another Portuguese class at 5pm for about an hour.

I've now been in Brazil for ten weeks - the longest I've ever been away from Australia. After eight weeks here, I've found I can have basic conversations with people - if they're patient with me. But listening in on someone else's conversation still seems way beyond me. I made a friend who's into basketball like me. He said he like's Dwayne Wade but thinks he's a bit of a hog. He thinks Lebron is good but "armarelo" (yellow), which I take it to mean he thinks he's scared to take the big shots. So I was glad I was able to have this conversation in Portuguese. I got to play basketball for the first time since leaving Australia too which was good fun!

Anyway, its been a while since I posted a blog and I thought I should let my worldwide followers know what I've been up to :) I should be going camping tomorrow with some friends which sounds like fun. Hopefully I can stand the heat - its about as hot as Maceio, although at least its not as humid so I don't sweat so much.