Encontrei um apartamento

The 3 coins that determined who gets the master bedroom, I won  ^_^

I woke up this morning a little more relaxed than usual. For the first time since we landed, I didn’t wake up thinking about looking for a place to stay. I didn’t rush to my laptop to check whether I had received any emails from possible landlords. This is my first time being on my own, so this is the first time I have ever had to worry about such things. We found an apartment just in time. Although we’ve been here for a little more than a week, 9 days to be exact, I have been living out of my suitcases for almost a month (I left Ottawa on June 12^th). It’s not fun living out of a damn suitcase! I didn't realize how much I’d miss having drawers and a closet. But here I am, in a fully furnished 3 bedroom apartment owned by a German who’s lived here for 20yrs and is married to a Braziliera. In a month, our roommate Kevin will be arriving from France and our home will be complete. 

Regis, a great cook

During our first few days in Fortaleza, we stayed at the Maredomus Hotel. However, after reviewing our finances, we knew we needed to downgrade. On Monday we moved to At Home Hostel & Pub, which had only been open for about 15 days. The paint on the walls was fresh, the furniture was new, and the staff was very friendly. It’s owned and operated by Marquinhos and Regis (M&R), who were very accommodating to our needs. With the help of their supportive family and friends, M&R have been able to build the hostel themselves, which I believe, will be very successful in the coming years. These guys helped us with the bus system (but we still ended up getting lost), called taxis for us (though they drop us off at the wrong places), and recommending cheap places to eat (although we don’t know how to order food in Portuguese YET). We promised we’d come back this afternoon to watch the futebol match between Brazil vs. Paraguay.

Marquinhos and his lovely family

*Speaking of futebol, Amber and I have created a bucket list of things we want to do in the coming months. One of which will be to watch all of Brazil’s futbol games. J

But back to the topic at hand, we will most likely continue to keep in touch with these guys who are genuinely friendly people. If anyone is looking for a hostel in Fortaleza, I recommend "At Home Hostel & Pub" (I know, shameless advertising lol) Other than finally finding a great apartment, meeting the women who are currently in Mulheres Mil program was another highlight of my week.

These women had worked with the previous interns, Sean and Kristina. They were very welcoming and some had even asked for our emails, which we gave out. I wonder what they will email me about. Amber and I sat in on their class on Cooperatives. However, as I listened to the lesson, I found myself getting  very agitated. While Amber wrote in her journal, I sat there finding it hard to focus. I eventually left the class early because I was getting frustrated over the fact that I couldn't understand. Ok fine, I can't expect to start understanding Portuguese within a week but I don't like not knowing. As I stated in my previous blog, I really can't wait to start taking Portuguese lessons next week.

So time for me to get ready to watch this futebol match, thank God I don't need to know Portuguese to follow the game. :)