Preciso melhorar minhas linguas

Before I arrived in Brazil, I stressed about loosing my Spanish language skills. Now that I'm back in Canada, I stress about loosing the Portuguese that I've learned. My French language skills have also suffered a substantial blow, considering I hadn't practiced it during the last few months. My French roommate's parents had come to visit him from France. When speaking with his mother, who only speaks French, I found myself thinking and translating my sentences from Portuguese to French before responding. It's funny how the mind stumbles over a language I've studied for many years.

During the first month back in Canada, I would find myself responding to the people in my life in Portuguese, forgetting that I was no longer in Brazil. My responses were often met with a long silent pause, as I slowly realize where I am and who I'm speaking to. Such situations are no longer as common as before, thank God.

So what have I done to maintain my Portuguese? The same thing I did when I was first trying to learn the language: listen to music, watch movies, read articles...etc. During my months of hibernating, hiding away from the Canadian winter, I spent many hours cuddled on the couch and watching foreign movies. I'm thankful that my family was, most of the time, understanding of my readjusting mindset at the time. Some of the Brazilian films I watched include:

There are other movies that I watched but these 3 were very interesting. 

• Onibus 174 is based the true story of a hostage situation on a Rio de Janiero bus. After watching this film, I watched a documentary, A Ultima Parada 174, that analyzed the poor handling of this hostage situation, even interviewing the hostages, and providing a less "Hollywoodized" biography of the gunman. 
• Although not Brazilian, Manda Bala was an interesting documentary that takes a look at corruption in Brazil and the frequent kidnappings in Sao Paulo, even going as far as interviewing a "professional" kidnapper. It shows the lavish lifestyle of a plastic surgeon that specializes in repairing victims' ears that were cut off during their kidnapping and the successful business of bullet proof vehicles. This documentary is actually banned in Brazil, which really surprised me.
• Antonia reminded me a lot of American movies about life in the ghetto, in this case the favela, and just trying to get out. It's the story of 4 childhood friends that come together to form a singing group while trying to overcome their hardships. I particularly liked their rendition of "Killing me softly."
• A Deriva was a film a watched during the Portuguese Film Festival in May. The audience was made up of people from Lusophone countries and it was entertaining to hear the different accents of Portuguese speakers after. Also the movie was good also, watch it if you can. :)

In the past, I've used podcasts from the iTunes store to practice listening to French and Spanish. I managed to find a useful podcast called "Ta Falado." University of Texas Professor Orlando Kelm and his team provide lessons on Portuguese pronunciation and grammar. This is especially useful for those who have a background in Spanish. I wish I had found it before arriving in Fortaleza, however it has been useful in recognizing the different pronunciation of Portuguese and Spanish.

I also came across a Portuguese Blog focused on all things Brazil. From food recipes and culture to Portuguese vocabulary, slang and pronunciation, this site has some useful information for gringos going to Brazil. I haven't found it as useful as Ta Falado, but again, this website would have been very useful for me before going to Brazil. 

I never imagined I would learn Portuguese, but I have. Now I'm left with the task of balancing, improving, and perfecting my languages.