Estou falando Portunhol

I was looking forward to finally sleeping in this Saturday but my dream was crushed when my phone started ringing at 7:40am. It’s one of our Braziliero amigos calling to see what our plans are for the day. I’m still half asleep so I’m having trouble turning on my Portuguese translation switch. Remembering I speak Spanish, he passes the phone to his Spanish speaking friend. While I can understand everything he’s saying, I’m having trouble responding in Spanish. All my responses are in Portunhol (mix of Portuguese and Spanish). Then it hits me, my Spanish, which I have cultivated for the last 9 months, is being quickly suffocated out of me by Portuguese. This realization has been haunting me all morning. I had initially applied for Peru when I interviewed for this job hoping to get a chance to improve my Spanish in a Spanish-speaking country, but my interviewers thought Brazil would be a better location to harness my skills. As Amber keeps reminding me, “Everything happens for a reason.” She had also initially applied and interviewed for Argentina hoping to improve her Spanish, but clearly there are greater plans in store for us in Brazil.

“When life gives you lemons, exchange them for limes and make a delicious Caipirinha!” 

                -Vera Nnensa, just now

It’s only been a week since we started learning Portuguese but I feel I’ve picked up a lot. Since the Mulheres Mil program is located on a college campus, our teachers are people around our age willing to take the time to teach us basic Portuguese in exchange for English. Professora Erilan and Professor Vitor have been helping us with not only improving our Portuguese, but also advising us on basic day-to-day activities. For instance, you can’t get a sim card unless you have a Brazilian ID, obrigada Profesora Erilan.

Professora Erilan

Professor Vitor

Since we are on a college campus, we have managed to also make some friends. As a foreigner coming into a country where I don’t know anyone, making friends can be a complicated matter. As I stated in a previous blog, foreigners are easy targets, therefore Amber and I are careful about who we let into our lives.

Marujinho, tastes like a yogurty condensed milk ice cream.
I'll definitely smuggle a box to Canada, thanks Victor.

But on a positive note, we've met some really nice people who have gone out of their way to help us Canadians lost in the world of lambada (rsrsrsrs = hahahaha/lol). Like Victor, not to be confused with Professor Vitor, who practically held our hands and took the bus with us on Monday to show us the bus route (taxiing to work everyday ain’t cheap at all). Then there’s Vanderlania, who, despite our language barrier, has shown us around campus and introduced us to more people. We also met Eveline and Tanara, who are students that are doing an exchange to Canada this fall. They’re just as excited as we were when we found out we were going to Brazil.  Most of our friends don’t speak English, so we're forced to speak {broken} Portuguese to practice. It's a learning experience and I'm loving every minute of it, even if it takes 10 minutes to get my point across. Slowly but surely, Amber and I are establishing a social life and making friendships that will, hopefully, continue when we return to Canada.

Praia do Futuro

In terms of plans for this weekend, we were invited by Victor to go to Praia do Futuro with his friends tomorrow. Apparently its the most beautiful beach in town, so that should be fun. Also the holidays have officially started this weekend so there’s no Mulheres Mil work for us just yet. Amber and I are looking into other side activities (other volunteer work or traveling within the region) we could do to keep us busy during slow periods.